As the world’s banking system teetered on the brink of collapse just about a year ago, there were widespread, heartfelt, calls for reform.

Politicians of all stripes on both sides of the Atlantic, spurred on by taxpayers’ outrage at the cost of bailing out those who ought to need help least, vowed to get tough. No longer would banks be allowed to become too big to fail, or bankers be rewarded for taking risks that prove the undoing of their institutions.