Fading global cooperation will make this crisis worse than the recession of 2008 | Larry Elliott

The global financial crisis brought large economies together but the current crisis comes at a time of deep division

Fifteen years ago this week the French bank BNP Paribas announced it was closing three of its hedge funds heavily exposed to the US sub-prime mortgage market.

On the day little heed was paid to the news, but it quickly became apparent that not just BNP Paribas but just about every big financial institution was up to its neck in securities linked to underperforming American home loans. In early August 2007, BNP was simply the pebble that marked the coming avalanche.