Beleaguered banking executives are taking a break from the vagaries of the credit markets to check in with their rivals - and, hopefully, a few sovereign funds - at this year's World Economic forum in Davos.

However, the tone of this year's meeting will be very different from last year's gathering. Then chief executives of the world's biggest banks, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, strutted their stuff on the slopes with deal pipelines overflowing and private equity executives lined up to borrow in their billions. Merger fever had gripped the investment banks and there was no stopping them.

Of course, there were the bears who said that the market was becoming too frothy. There was too much funny money in the system and lending multiples were going through the roof - but so long as the music kept playing, as the now former chief executive of Citigroup said, the banks were going to keep playing.

Fast foward 12 months and this year there's more firefighting than dealmaking and those chief executives who are left standing are not as confident as they were.

Only Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, will be able to hold his head up high, because his bank is virtually the only one on Wall Street to have avoided massive writedowns after taking bets on risky American sub-prime mortgages.

This year's Davos will be a first for John Thain as the newly appointed chief executive of Merrill Lynch, which is reeling from its $14.1billion (£7.2 billion) of writedowns. He, no doubt, will seek solace and advice from his fellow chief executives, including Jamie Dimon, of JPMorgan Chase, and John Mack, from Morgan Stanley.

In the Swiss ski resort, as the banking chiefs nurse their wounds from the pains of the sub-prime crisis, they will have a rare chance to mix with managers of the world's top wealth funds, which have hit the top of everyone's must-see list. The oil-rich nations of the Middle East and funds from Asia have raced on to the main stage of the world economy in the past few months with their $60 billion injection into banks nearly brought to their knees by the US mortgage debacle. In the past week alone, the funds have poured nearly $20 billion into Citigroup and Merrill Lynch.

A session next Thursday on sovereign wealth funds will bring key speakers together, including: Bader al-Sa'ad, head of the Kuwait Investment Authority; Muhammad al-Jasser, vice-governor of Saudi Arabia's central bank; Alexei Kudrin, the Russian Finance Minister; and Robert Kimmitt, the US Deputy Treasury Secretary, among others.

The British banks, who so far have fared much better in the credit crunch than their counterparts in the United States, are more noticeable by their absence.

Ken Costa, the chairman of Lazard, will be there, and Bob Diamond, the president of Barclays Bank, whose investment bank Barclays Capital has been forced to write down several billion in sub-prime related losses. Royal Bank of Scotland clearly has decided to sit this year out.

Talking points
A flavour of the forum in 13 sessions

— Dividing the world again?
Debate on the re-emergence of old fault lines in international relations, and new geopolitical alliances. Chaired by Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State

— Designing a cure for cancer
Leading cancer scientists explain prospects for, and obstacles to, a cure for a disease expected to claim 11 million lives a year by 2030

— Myths and realities of sovereign wealth funds
Top business and private equity figures and economists dissect the growing global power of state-backed funds expected to be worth $12 trillion in five years

— Solving the mysteries of the mind
Advances in brain research are unravelling the mysteries of knowledge, memory and learning. What does it mean for psychology, religion and philosophy?

— Nuclear energy versus non-proliferation
How should the world balance the valid nuclear power needs of nations with fears over the spread of nuclear weaponry?

— The rising influence of minority shareholders
Examining how the smallest of investors with stakes of as little as 1 per cent are exercising growing sway over big businesses

— Defining human greatness
Over dinner, delegates grapple with what qualities make people great and search for definitions that cross cultural lines and national taboos

— M&A Heatmap for 2008
Some of the world’s key financial players and private equity groups discuss the impact of the global credit squeeze on mergers activity this year. Which businesses remain in predators’ sights?

— Time is running out for water
The chiefs of Nestlé and Coca-Cola and the UN Secretary-General debate the threat that a third of the world’s population will live in regions with little water by 2025

— Cyberspying — a tangible threat?
The Director of the FBI and other experts examine the vulnerability of governments, companies and individuals to “cyber attack” by electronic spies

— Iraq and its neighbours
What are the key strategic issues for bolstering security and stability in perhaps the world’s most dangerous region

— Myths and realities of hedge funds
The Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission and industry members scrutinise the growing anxieties over the powerful role of hedge funds in global markets

— Dialogue in silence
An experience in which delegates learn about the power of non-verbal communication, following up on last year’s Dialogue in the dark

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