And look to take considered risks? Stop being negative, find new opportunities and push to seek growth again? Many financial groups of all types these past few years have taken on 'total risk averse profiles' - supported by the numerous, gloomy predictions from a plethora of economic institutes/consultants and even central banks - thereby denying the fuel of growth to companies and projects in need. 

These so-called 'dismal scientists' are truly dismal, dominating the media and talking everything down based solely on forward projections of the same shared historic numbers. Sort of The Past is The Future and The Only Future. 

Fear not, even in the Depressed West, the business developers, the creators of growth, the risk takers, are making hay, even large profits, whilst the majority fidgets. Fortune favours the early movers, as competitive pressures are less intense and therefore more opportunities abound. The established, the risk averse, maybe the lazy, sleep on.

We have born witness to this in some exciting meetings recently, with companies developing novel products in healthcare and energy seeking finance to break into their resoective markets. Let's hope they are a leitmotiv for the New Year, as we move swiftly on to more positive, productive times.