The fact that banks aren’t the number one destination for the brightest MBA students should give them pause for thought. To be sure, plenty of graduates want to work in banks – the offices aren’t going to be empty. But the fact that the very top cadre of students would rather work for Amazon – an online retailer – than a bank says something is broken.

For a start, there's the reputational battering that the banks have taken since the crisis. In the words of one leading MBA careers director: "Why would the very smartest students - who know they're smart - do something that makes them a pariah at the dinner table?"