Fat personal bonuses provide insufficient motivation for some investment bankers, it seems. Ann-Françoise Dayon, deputy head of human resources at Groupe Agence Française de Développement (AFD), cites the case of a French banker who returned to France ahead of the financial crisis, after a decade in the City of London, to join the Agency’s financial teams.

“Of course, people with such skills know they won’t earn so much as they did in the private sector,” she says. “But our staff tell us we offer interesting work that is meaningful, and offers intellectual stimulation and plenty of responsibility.”