When the Great Recession struck in 2008, it marked the most significant economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. A slumping housing market undermined the value of many mortgage-backed securities, leading to the collapse of financial firms. Unemployment in the United States soared to 10 percent, and the U.S. gross domestic product-the total amount of goods and services a nation produces-fell by more than 4 percent. Federal authorities moved swiftly to prop up struggling banks, and Congress enacted a series of reforms aimed at preventing such a calamity from recurring. Today, the global banking system may be facing its most serious crisis since 2008. In early 2023, a run on deposits at Silicon Valley Bank, a regional bank in California, quickly led to the third largest bank failure in U.S. history. Days later, Signature, another regional bank, failed, and a third, First Republic, needed immediate aid to survive. Overseas, Credit Suisse, one of Switzerland's biggest and oldest banks, suddenly faced collapse. Observers wonder if the global economy is again approaching recession. A combination of factors, including the erosion of regulations, sharp interest rate hikes, and a volatile cryptocurrency landscape, has raised new questions about the scale of turmoil that could confront markets worldwide. These factors, some argue, indicate that the global economy is in deep trouble. Others, however, disagree. As bad this recent crisis appears to be, they argue, the reforms put in place after the Great Recession have effectively contained the contagion and prevented widescale collapse. Amid this latest ferment, is the banking system safer than it was in 2008?

Originally released by Intelligence Squared US, 2023. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on October 30, 2023.