US regulators have made it increasingly apparent in that the central focus of their fears at the time of Bear Stearns’ demise was not so much the run on one investment bank but the impact that this could have on two other institutions: Bank of New York and JPMorgan Chase.

The reason is not the two banks’ financial health but because they play a key part in a little-known section of financial plumbing, known as the tri-party repurchase or ‘repo’ market. This system channels funding throughout large parts of the financial system.