Very few people in finance today have ever witnessed, let alone worked through, a serious bear market. The shortness of many City careers means that experience is a precious commodity. Had a greater number of more mature and wiser heads stuck around for longer, the industry might have better weathered the credit storm.

The Financial News Veterans of Finance is a list of senior executives in Europe who have stayed the course. We have polled readers and our contacts across the market to profile executives who have been in the industry for more than 30 years, and while the list is by no means exhaustive, we believe it is a good reflection of the people who have shaped financial services over the past few decades.