Der Doppelgänger, a chilling poem by Heinrich Heine, describes the disorientation of confusing a ghostly double with the real thing. Markets are confronting a similarly unnerving prospect: what if the shadow banking system is indistinguishable from the real one?

Babcock & Brown Infrastructure, an indebted and Sydney-listed satellite fund of the defunct Australian fund manager, is weighing a transaction with a potential equity investor. On Tuesday it confirmed it had received a rival proposal from Royal Bank of Scotland. But the world’s largest bank by loans is not doing any lending: it is merely acting as a go-between for a group of hedge funds who will together recapitalise BBI via a A$400m equity injection and an A$950m debt refinancing.