When Christopher Cox took charge of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street had five large stand-alone investment banks. Now, there are two, fighting for survival.

By serving as the country's main markets regulator during the most catastrophic destruction of capital since the 1930s, Mr Cox, a free market champion, has somehow turned out to be one of the most despised men on Wall Street. Some privately say that he has even surpassed Eliot Spitzer, the former New York attorney-general who was Wall Street's previous bogeyman, by a wide margin.