EUROPEAN bank presentations used to be filled with graphs of assets that sloped pleasingly upward. For those at the mercy of the European Commission, they now all lurch sickeningly downward.

• 欧洲的银行过去展现在世人眼前的似乎总是其资产曲线往右上角延伸的景象，而对于那些（因金融危机）受到欧盟委员会管制的银行，其资产曲线则是难看地向右下角倾斜。