When RBS moved Euan Hamilton, global head of leveraged finance, from the UK to New York, it had grand designs on replicating its dominant position in Europe in the growing US market.

Nearly five years on and billions of dollars of losses from leveraged lending later, the bank is instead shuttering its US leveraged finance business - and Hamilton has returned to London in a new role. But RBS is pressing ahead in the US high-yield market, which last year posted record volumes.