One year on from the onset of the sub-prime crisis, there are several ways to measure the impact of the credit crunch. Job losses on Wall Street and in the City of London have stretched into the tens of thousands. Writedowns on banks’ balance sheets are more than $400bn (€258bn) in total, with more to come, according to some analysts.

Returns from equities investments have plunged in most sectors over the past 12 months. The collapse of Bear Stearns, a US investment bank, and Northern Rock, a UK mortgage lender, brought the financial crisis home to millions.