YESTERDAY saw more shock waves billowing through the world’s financial markets with the collapse of the top US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Added to the buying out of Merrill Lynch, another large US investment bank, by Bank of America, it shows that the "credit crunch" is far from over, and is continuing to claim some high-profile victims, which would have been considered unthinkable until quite recently.

It may be tempting to see this as a problem affecting institutions far away, and which few people – unless they work in this business – have heard of until now.

However, as we report today, the ramifications of such a high-profile collapse are likely to be felt far closer to home.

In the construction industry, iconic Liverpool regeneration specialist Urban Splash emerged as the region’s latest victim of the economic downturn.

The firm’s cost-cutting measures, including job cuts, are being blamed on the credit crunch and a slowdown in sales.

Urban Splash is the lead contractor for converting the former Littlewoods headquarters, on Edge Lane, into apartments and offices. They were also due to transform Lime Street’s ABC cinema into a New York-style supper club, and to deliver the 34-acre Southport Marine Park on the resort’s waterfront.

But everyone is likely to feel some of the after-shock from Lehman Brothers’ collapse, at least indirectly, with sharp falls in share prices.

It will cause increasing nervousness among banks and other financial institutions with which people deal daily, intensifying the credit crunch.

It has led some commentators to say an economic recession in the UK seems ever more likely, although others dispute this.

What is clear is that, almost every day now, we are given fresh reminders of the economic downturn and how the world is entering dangerous and uncertain territory.