But the really decisive break in market confidence came on the morning of August 9, 2007, when BNP Paribas, France’s most prominent bank, announced that it was freezing three of its funds.5 The explanation Paribas offered marked a decisive moment in the opening of the crisis: “The complete evaporation of liquidity in certain market segments of the U.S. securitisation market has made it impossible to value certain assets fairly regardless of their quality or credit rating.”
