The Obama administration will shortly put forward its plans for restructuring the US financial system. We will all then discover whether the administration offers change we can believe in. The world cannot cope with more of the uncertainty that has plagued it since the crisis broke in August 2007. Governments must put financial systems on a sound footing, at last.

Only now, at the beginning of his administration, does President Barack Obama have the opportunity to transform perceptions. Only now, after all, can he present himself as the clean pair of hands able to do whatever it takes to clean up the mess he inherited. Should he fail, he will find himself swiftly transformed from wished-for saviour into yet another inadequate bungler.