When I left university, few graduates thought of going into “merchant banking”, as it was then known in the UK, and almost no one into stockbroking. In recent years, however, investment banking has become the first place for graduates to seek their fortunes.

Employment in the US securities industry has more than doubled since the downturn that followed the 1987 stock market crash – from 417,000 in 1990 to 867,000 this year.

Many of those jobs – and much of the bonus pool that supported them – are at risk. I do not think investment banking will regain its hegemony for a very long time, if ever.

FT.com / Columnists / John Gapper – The fatal banker’s fall.