It appears that City Boy ditched his Clark Kent daytime camouflage with superhero timing. The company which made him, indeed the one at which he adopted all those vices he claims to have hated about the City, has been consigned to the history books: Dresdner Kleinwort has gone up in smoke.

Now, I’ve read City Boy’s book. And if even half of it is true, it’s no wonder those sleazy bankers bit the dust. With Shakespearean inevitability, their downfall oozes a kind of belated poetic justice.

How this translates for a Dresdner banker is much grislier. Instead of brimming with beer and barmaids, this year’s Oktoberfest is going to be a festival of firings. About half of the London office (1,000) and 8,000 more staff worldwide stand to be sacked. But not all is lost – a fellow Frankfurter, Commerzbank, has come to the rescue.

“The two banks fit together perfectly,” commented Dresdner CEO Herbert Walker. Isn’t that heart-warming? Soul mates embracing, amid the hustle and bustle of the City, at long last. It’s obvious how this movie plays out: the new super-size bank has a terrifying blitz on punctuality, with security cards marked if you’re more than five minutes late; puts sausage and pickled cabbage on the fifth-floor canteen menu; and hands out bonuses to those with the best ideas for market, or world, domination.

“We will put out joint efforts into shaping this institution by focusing on earnings as well as cost synergies.” Herbie continued – 5 billion of synergies, to be precise, and if now put-out-to-pasture City Boy’s salary was any guide, Dresdner’s redundancies account for 4.9 billion of that.

If the zeitgeist of the City holds firm, and companies such as Dresdner continue to be kissed “aufwiedersehn” day in and day out, it begs the question: is my firm next? Is yours? After last week’s breakdown, I began to believe that, when all is said and done, exiting the square mile City Boy style may not be so unwise after all.