A year ago this month a hedge fund run by the collapsed bank Bear Stearns that invested in high-risk mortgage-backed securities fell in value by 23%. It marked the start of what has been 12 months of turmoil in the financial markets, which has claimed the jobs of some of Wall Street’s biggest names, brought its proudest banks to their knees after billion dollar writedowns and made “sub-prime” the buzzword for an industry still reeling from the effects of a global credit crunch.

Financial News will be running a diary of the key dates from last year and onwards to give a blow-by-blow account of how the troubles in the markets unravelled.