Of the world’s elites, none has flown higher than those who have led the financial community. The re-engineering of international finance has been one of the transformational trends of our times – in just a quarter-century, capital flows became massive, instantan­eous and controlled by a new breed of traders representing a handful of major financial institutions from a few countries. Their rewards have transcended any in history as shown by an estimate by Alpha Magazine that the top hedge fund manager last year made $3bn.

The concentration of power has also steadily grown. The top 50 financial institutions control almost $50,000bn (£25,600bn) in assets, roughly a third of the global total. Ten thousand hedge funds are estimated to account for 30-50 per cent of all equities trading worldwide but the top 100 control 60 per cent of hedge fund assets. When crises arise, regulators have been forced to seek the collaboration of the heads of the biggest institutions on a more or less voluntary basis. Typically, of the few they approach, the key executives are in the US and Europe, underscoring the transatlantic nature of this elite.