There has been an unusually languid atmosphere about the 5-star hotels of Monaco over the past two days. Le Louis XV – Alain Ducasse’s three-Michelin starred restaurant – has tables spare; no groups of hedge fund managers or their investors have booked it out to celebrate high returns, or even survival, this year.

The total number of attendees at the Monaco GAIM conference – the largest and most popular gathering in the alternative investment industry calendar – is far lower than in previous years. Even among those attending, regulars note a lack of ebullience.