Jean-Marc Mercier has an idyllic home-office setup. HSBC’s vice-chair of capital markets fled London early in the coronavirus pandemic and set up shop in his holiday home, an 18th-century chateau in Provence on 10 hectares of mostly vineyards in need of a little love.

He had planned to spend more time kick-starting a new wine-making business. But the veteran debt banker was instead thrust into back-to-back calls as companies strapped for cash tapped European debt markets in record numbers.