For the global financial system, it has been a month of unprecedented pandemonium as the coronavirus pandemic breaks all records, bringing western capitalism to its knees as the disease spreads.

Major landmarks in global markets that typically take years to reach have fallen like dominos in a matter of hours and days. More than eight years of gains on the FTSE 100 have been wiped out in barely a month, with the index plummeting to its lowest level since 2011.

Global stocks have had the best and worst sessions in a decade on consecutive days, pinging around amid widespread investor panic. The pound has slid to a 35-year low and fortunes have been lost, rewriting the financial landscape.

Against a backdrop of urgent attempts by governments…