Ethics are becoming more important to banks. Ever since Sergio Ermotti admitted that some crazy people might have squeezed through the recruitment net at UBS, banks have been doing their utmost to weed out sociopaths and rampant narcissists.

The emphasis on ethics is manifesting itself in interview questions relating to values. "We use scenarios to ascertain how people will react in particular situations and to see how they fit with our culture and values," says the head of recruitment at one American bank in London, who declined to speak on the record. "We're very collaborative and we want to see that people's values match our own."

A senior recruiter at a British bank confirmed the importance of values-based questions during the contemporary banking interview. She says the ideal response is one which a) shows an appreciation of the bank's values and b) uses an example from the interviewee's own working life to demonstrate those values in action. "You need to answer these questions using real examples that reflect the bank's own values. If you don't, you'll be in trouble," she says.