The man in charge of Britain’s largest listed asset management company calls himself a banker. Michael Dobson, chief executive of Schroders, uses it on company forms, immigration questionnaires and census returns. “Even now, when bankers are this unpopular, I still use it,” he said.

And then, breaking into the kind of warm smile that justifies his reputation for being charming, he admits to being just a little lazy: "It's easier, isn't it? It's just one word."