Michael Zaoui is unnervingly pragmatic. While other European heads of M&A are panicking, Morgan Stanley's is calm and precise. His manner belies the market turmoil he and his peers face on a daily basis.

Zaoui does not dwell on the good old days of 1999, when multi-billion dollar deals were ten-a-penny and Morgan Stanley advised on European deals worth $349bn (€359bn). Those days are just distant memories. This year, Morgan Stanley advised on $76bn worth of deals in the first three quarters and the average deal size has plummeted.