NBK has paid about $50 million to around 20 individuals who invested in Madoff feeder funds through its Swiss bank in December, one NBK executive is reported as saying. The clients got back both the principal and the profits they thought they had made.

Santander will, as reported yesterday, repay the losses of its private clients - though not institutions - who put money in Mr Madoff’s operation via Santander’s Optimal hedge fund arm, though not their phantom gains.