When Richard Fuld, the chief executive of Lehman Brothers, received the news in 2008 that no one would ride to the rescue of his failing bank, he is reported to have said: “So I’m the schmuck?”

Almost a decade later, Lehman is still the only US investment bank that was allowed to fail. Its peers have been restored to health with risks removed. Mr Fuld appears to be the ultimate “schmuck” of the financial crisis. But that judgment may be premature.

Risk has been gently and painlessly excised from the US banking system over the past 10 years. On any sensible measure, US banks are far safer now. Europe’s banks, which entered the crisis in a far more parlous state, have at least improved. The nightmare scenario, which seemed very close in 2008, of all-out banking collapse seems now to have been averted. The prospect of ATMs failing to pay out cash, or of companies failing to pay wages, has receded.