A global banking crisis would kill tens of thousands of people through heart attacks brought on by stress and anxiety, Cambridge university researchers warn today.

David Stuckler and colleagues have carried out what they say is the first study relating banking crises to mortality. Their statistical analysis of 40 years' data from the World Bank and World Health Organisation concludes that a "system-wide" crisis increases deaths from heart disease by an average 6.4 per cent in wealthy countries - and more in developing countries.