I have been chatting to our leading private banking and wealth management companies for an informal spot check on how they are faring during the wild seesaw of investment markets as well as the Covid-19 lock-down.

Most encouragingly, firms have, with the ingenuity that has marked the City of London over the centuries, generally risen to the challenge and indeed have used these unprecedented times to drive for greater efficiency.

That’s the case at C Hoare & Co, where 98 percent of its workforce is now working from home.

“We did more innovation in a month than we normally do in a year,” senior partner...