Hank Paulson, US Treasury secretary, was chairing a lunch in New York this month with luminaries from investment banks, private equity firms and hedge funds to discuss regulation of the financial markets when Michael Novogratz interrupted.

The former Goldman Sachs trader who is now president of Fortress Investments, a hedge fund with $40bn (£20bn, €27bn) under management, pointed out that for years the assumption had been that hedge funds would bring financial disaster. Mr Novogratz went on to observe, according to one participant, that instead it was the banks that “blew up the world”.