If they believed everything they read in the newspapers about the decline of Europe and the US and the rise of emerging markets, any self-respecting banker would book a ticket to Shanghai, São Paulo or Singapore. But, if they did, they could be missing out on a far bigger growth market on their own doorstep.

In the past few weeks, the doom and gloom over the future of investment banking and capital markets in developed economies has gathered pace. There are now 3,800 fewer companies listed in the US than at the market's peak in 1997. A report last week by the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation warned that the US lead in capital markets continues to be eroded. An already stagnant European economy is about to be dragged back to the economic dark ages by the sovereign debt crisis.