If the middleman won’t lend to you except at usurious rates of interest, just cut him out. That’s what Roche did. The Swiss drugmaker has raised $39bn of the $47bn it needs to fund its recently agreed acquisition of Genentech, the US biotechnology group, by tapping directly into the bond market. There was no bank finance to be seen.

If Roche’s example were to spread it could cut the rationale for much corporate banking off at the knees. Mega-deals are typically funded first with bridge loans – short-term money from banks that can be raised quickly and repaid early if a deal falls through. In return, banks pocket a spread. More important, they earn underwriting fees on the bond issues that follow when the deal completes and the bridge loan is refinanced.