Entrepreneur Gerald Wong had a chilling start to his financial services career when he was confronted on his first day of work in London by the distressing sight of sacked Lehman Brothers staff leaving the bank’s offices carrying cardboard boxes of personal effects.

That daunting experience in 2008 turned him into a careful investor, one who always manages risk as if a black swan event were around the corner, while being acutely aware that nothing is ever too big to fall.