Rarely, if ever, has the art of government relations – or lobbying, as it is more commonly known – been more important for financial firms. The City of London’s credibility among Europe’s key policymakers has been badly if not irreparably damaged by the global financial crisis and, at the same time, EU institutions are gaining more power to author and impose regulation on EU member states as a result of the Lisbon Treaty.

The situation is not helped by the widespread belief that the UK has an attitude problem when it comes to Europe, a view that was only reinforced by the UK's recent decision to opt out of a key EU treaty to strengthen the eurozone.