Financial sector pay has been in the political, regulatory and press spotlight for the best part of a year now following the crash of September 2008. There have been some recent shock horror stories that banking bonuses are “business as usual”, that the profession is paying no heed at all to public opinion, and worse, is verging on the immoral. Most recently, Lord Turner, chairman of the UK’s Financial Services Authority, contributed his unilateral Tobin tax idea to rein in banker’s “socially useless” activities.

Quietly in the background one part of the financial services sector, arguably the most important for long-term financial stability and certainly with the best quality earnings, has been getting its house in order.