ADOLF MERCKLE

This German billionaire couldn’t stand the ignominy of defeat. The losses on his VW-Porsche share deals, cost the demise of his drug and cement empire.

RENE-THIERRY MAGON DE LA VILLEHUCHET

This 65-year-old was the chief executive of Access International Advisors. His firm had lost $1.4 billion (£1 billion) in the Madoff scandal, and he took his own life last month after the exposure of the alleged fraud. His body was found two days before Christmas in his New York office.

He is thought to have taken sleeping pills before slashing his wrists. His older brother described the suicide as an “act of honour”.

STEVEN GOOD

A well-known Chicago-based property broker, Steven Good was found dead in his car last Monday in an apparent suicide. The authorities said they have no “concrete evidence” that his death was connected to his finances. It appears that the 52-year-old shot himself in his car, which was found in the parking lot of a wildlife reserve on the outskirts of Chicago. It is not known how long the body had been in the vehicle before it was discovered. He was chairman and chief executive of Sheldon Good, the property agent, and had overseen the sale of more than $4 billion of property during his career.

CHRISTEN SCHNOR

A Dane working for HSBC in London, Christen Schnor was founded hanged in a hotel bedroom on December 17. He had been head of insurance at the bank with particular responsibility for the UK and the Middle East and worked out of the bank’s Canary Wharf headquarters. A hotel worker found Schnor in his suite at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in London’s Knightsbridge. The married father of two had left a suicide note.

KIRK STEPHENSON

This 47-year-old executive at Olivant, the private-equity firm best known for trying to take over Northern Rock, died after being hit by a train in Buckinghamshire last September. A jury ruled that the married father-of-one’s death had been a suicide. The inquest heard that New Zealand-born Stephenson had been facing “considerable financial loss”.

PAULO SERGIO SILVA

This 36-year-old trader shot himself in the chest during afternoon trading at the Sao Paulo commodities and futures exchange in November in an apparent suicide attempt. An employee of the Brazilian bank Itau, Silva was rushed to hospital after being given first aid at the scene. Trading was suspended for 20 minutes, and the president of the exchange addressed the trading pit to appeal for calm.