At the North American Bridge Championship in St Louis last March, Jimmy Cayne was still a rogue prince of Wall Street.

The rough-edged, cigar-smoking Bear Stearns chief executive had recently become a paper billionaire as shares in his investment bank remained near their record high of $171.51 at the start of last year. Mr Cayne, who was spending more and more time out of the office playing cards, finished 14th in total points in St Louis out of almost 4,000 players.