The company has very little debt, he said, and a return on assets of 28 percent.

It put a market value on such assets of more than $1 billion before taxes.

"The event would have to be so major, we'd call on federal assets almost immediately."

Previously, the top rate was 28 percent on assets held more than 12 months.

The two are linked through the cost of capital and the return on financial assets.

Until the first of this year, the maximum rate was 20 percent, on assets held six months or more.

But there have been very few claims on the fund's assets.

Yet British retailers still get a better return on their assets.

But should a bank's return on assets fall below 1.1 percent, the executive gets no bonus at all.

She hadn't scraped by all those years on her physical assets alone.