Many working in the City will be looking forward to a well-deserved break over Christmas – not least those who have spent the last few months of the year wading through the ‘year-end process’.

The ‘process’ comes in several stages. It entails a fierce succession of year-end reviews, staffing ‘adjustments’ (often upwards and outwards), following-year budgets, and early cuts of the bonus pool, all capped off with the politics and vagaries of the Christmas party.