Before he became ensconced in the world of derivatives trading and capital requirements, Michel Barnier spent 10 years organising the 1992 Winter Olympics held in the French Alps, an event that lasted a fortnight. “Ten years of your life into days,” he told a Brussels conference in February. “You have to be very stubborn to do that.”

The French career politician has found this to be a useful attribute in his current role. Appointed European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services in February 2010, Barnier became Europe's top financial services regulator at one of the most challenging periods in the industry's history. Four months previously, the G20 had outlined its plan to overhaul the world's financial markets in the wake of the global financial crisis. In Europe, it fell to Barnier to transform the G20 vision into a workable reality.