Moving house is supposed to be one of the most stressful of life events, right up there with divorce and bereavement. The international banks based in the UK that are threatening to move to more tax and regulation-friendly regimes might do well to bear this in mind.

In the past year, the chief executives of Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered have taken turns saying that, while they really don't want to leave the UK, equally, they might be forced to do so by punitive regulation and an uncertain and burdensome tax regime.