It is traditional to celebrate the passing of a fourth anniversary with the gift of fruit and flowers. But it appears that four years on from what became known as the “credit crisis”, the global economy has been presented with crashing stock markets, a sovereign debt crisis and a downgrade of US debt.

The credit crisis is credited with beginning on August 9, 2007, when BNP Paribas announced it was suspending three of its asset-backed securities funds, claiming it was unable to value what they held. This had followed several days of executives at now-defunct bank Bear Stearns rushing to assure the market that it had a clean bill of health.