The most popular ticket in town yesterday was at the Morgan Stanley European banks and financials conference at London's Hilton Park Lane, where it was standing room only.

Huw Van Steenis , Morgan Stanley's head of banking research, was never so sought after by clients, but the organisers had to invoke "health and safety regulations" to turn them away after the room reached its 1,400 capacity. Speakers included RBS chief financial officer Guy Whittaker, BNP's chief Bauduin Prot , Lloyds TSB's Eric Daniels and Deutsche Bank's Josef Ackermann , But the most notable performance came from Barclays' president Bob Diamond , who was "absolutely bullish", according to observers, declaring the bank would steal a march on rivals by grabbing market share in troubled times.