A year ago, 5,000 bankers crowded into the conference rooms of a waterfront hotel in Barcelona for the annual meeting of the European Securitisation Forum. They were there to discuss the corner of finance where debt is sliced and diced into bonds. Business was booming as banks discovered ever more innovative ways to bundle up assets such as mortgages and sell them on.

For the 2008 event last month, the ESF booked an even bigger and smarter venue, in Cannes. But this time round the halls were half-empty, with just 3,000 present. In recent months, activity in many corners of the securitised world has dried up, as investors have fled instruments such as mortgage-backed bonds. “It is a different environment now – we have to recognise that,” says Rick Watson, head of the ESF.