According to the textbooks, capital should flow from rich countries with abundant capital, such as America, to poorer ones, such as China, where capital is relatively scarce, so returns are higher.

Some venture capitalists, hungry for growth and troubled by weak returns, have moved toward smaller investments, hoping to catch the next Facebook in its infancy.

Mr Passera is relatively relaxed, arguing that the normalisation of interest rates and bad-debt charges will boost returns on equity and allow the bank to generate lots of cash.