Five years into the storm and no sign of clouds lifting - The National

Five years is a blink of the eye in historical terms but an eternity in the fast-moving world of finance.

The summer of 2007 was a time of boundless optimism, with soaring global economic growth, steadily rising equity and bond markets and asset appreciation in all classes, especially property.

Now we know it was all a bubble. About this time in the summer of that halcyon year, the first murmurings began in the markets for collateralised debt obligations.

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