In the wood-panelled elegance of the Galignani bookshop in Paris, a stone’s throw from Place de la Concorde, where Louis XVI was beheaded, Stephen Green was promoting his new book on money and morality on Friday.

The chairman of HSBC was certainly bold in his choice of country. Bankers’ heads may not yet be on pikes in France but public outcry over their elevated pay is at a frenzy. Scarcely a day goes by without a politician taking a pot-shot at bankers, with President Nicolas Sarkozy leading the charge.