Put a bunch of bankers up a swiss mountain – too much Gluhwein, not enough oxygen and lots of chit chat; see what happens.

Rumours were circulating among bankers at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week that Goldman Sachs, the world’s richest investment bank, could be about to stick one at President Obama and pay its chief executive a bumper bonus of up to $100 million.

However, now that the party is over and everyone has returned to the real world, someone reached for the bucket of cold water. Goldman’s spokesman Lucas van Praag had this to say:

“Although the board has yet to determine executive compensation, given everything we have said and done on the subject, the idea that the directors would award Lloyd Blankfein $100m, or anything close to it, beggars belief,”

Quite.