It took three years of deep depression to wreck havoc on U.S. banks. The response of the U.S. policy-makers – including their introduction of deposit insurance – quickly got the U.S. banking system up and running again.
In the present situation, the U.S. banking system has been the epicenter of the problem from the start, and the issue of pricing toxic assets has yet to be resolved. 4  BIS Review 63/2009  •  Second, there is some concern that the fiscal response to the present crisis may, in some countries, be overly aggressive.