Like all of us, I regularly fill my bin with unwanted and unopened circulars offering platinum credit cards with special rates and promises of free gifts. But why does no bank offer me quicker transactions and lower charges in my basic account? In banking there is noisy competition at the fringes but a no-poaching conspiracy at the protected core.

The banking results season has reported a level of financial success that is fast attaining embarrassing proportions. Indeed, there is a profits bonanza. In the US, Bank of America lifted net income by 31% last year, though this partly reflected acquisitions. In the UK, Barclays raised pre-tax profits by 20% and Royal Bank of Scotland by 14% to £6.9bn, with HSBC due to report today.