He also became a commercial banker, loaning money at interest before there were any banks in the area.

Ironically, the central bankers proved to be far less prescient than the commercial bankers had been.

But commercial bankers who have read the speech are baffled by the apparent contradiction.

Easy money came, secondly, because commercial bankers were incentivised to make the most of 'leverage' - ie, borrowing.

But to commercial bankers, the difference between guaranteed overnight deposits and one-month money market obligations was the difference between day and night.