A little bit of grease oils the wheels, as the saying goes. Nowhere more so than at American General, the US insurer that Prudential wants to buy. AGC is headed by Bob Devlin, the kind of US manager who expects rewards once known only to risk-taking entrepreneurs.

Devlin and his independent directors certainly keep each other sweet. Last year, the non-execs - repeat, non-execs - were granted 5,000 options each exercisable at about $31 (€34) a share. Thanks to the Pru bid, and a possible rival offer from AIG, they are already showing a profit of $70,000 each. Whether there is more where that came from is, wouldn't you know, 'at the discretion of the board'.