Optimism comes naturally to Jim Dilworth, the man in charge of Morgan Stanley’s biggest asset management business outside the US. It is just as well.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management, which was one of the top 25 asset managers in the world a year ago, has cut one in five jobs in its core business, compared with about one in 10 at the bank as a whole and at rival asset managers. The cuts came over last year, before a $1bn (€765m) loss for its fourth quarter, when assets under management plunged by a third.