That narrowed down the field to well-capitalised international companies, such as Nationale Nederlanden and Commercial Union.

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Not only will well-capitalised banks be able to withstand further squalls in the credit markets.

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When prices are low, oil-rich countries welcome the low-cost, high-tech and well-capitalised oil firms.

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Maybe, but it will help to be big, or at any rate well-capitalised.

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By contrast, Mr Geithner and Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, think that most American banks are well-capitalised and able to lend.

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Another worry is that, although the big Spanish banks look strong and well-capitalised, the same cannot be said of the savings banks or cajas.

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But the advantages to taxpayers of having a bank that is well-capitalised enough to lend, but also well-run enough to be sold back to private investors one day, should not be underestimated.

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But Mr Mack also stressed that other bits of Morgan Stanley's business are quite strong and that in spite of its losses, the bank would have been well-capitalised even without the Chinese investment.

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Given the perilous state of a great number of corporate pension funds and the firms that stand behind them, many pensioners may be better off in the hands of well-capitalised and -regulated insurers, especially as official compensation is more generous if an insurer fails to honour its obligations than if a company goes bust leaving an underfunded pension scheme.

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The territory does not have a looming sub-prime mortgage problem, and local lenders are well capitalised.

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