As officials put the final touches to the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley in the UK and a $700bn (£380bn) banking sector bail-out in the US, there was an air of satisfaction in London and New York yesterday.

But this probably owed much more to relief about what had been avoided than to confidence about what was in store for the world's banks and their customers.

As a former building society and one of the UK's biggest mortgage lenders, Bradford & Bingley's travails attracted huge attention because so many people would have been affected if it had failed.

However, as government guarantees would probably have protected the vast bulk of people's deposits, the effect on savers of its collapse might have been limited.

Much more damage would have been caused to counterparties that had provided funds that Bradford & Bingley lent on to house-buyers.

Other winners from the deal that was being thrashed out may be banks which get to buy some of Bradford & Bingley's deposit base and branch network for a fraction of what such assets would have been worth 18 months ago.

Groups in the frame include Spain's Santander, which already owns Abbey and is in the process of gobbling up Alliance & Leicester.

However, notwithstanding scaremongering about the effects of a run on Bradford & Bingley, experts said the main importance of the bank's problems was what they showed about the state of the sector.

Like Northern Rock before it, Bradford & Bingley was brought to the brink of oblivion because the wholesale funding markets on which it relied dried up because banks were too scared of lending to other banks.

This was because they feared potential counterparties could have balance sheets stuffed with property-related assets whose value had been slashed as a result of the sub-prime housing crisis which started in the US.

To make matters worse, the private sector was unable to provide a solution.

But while analysts agree that the failure of Bradford & Bingley did not bear thinking about, the bank's difficulties were only a symptom of a wider problem.

Mamoun Tazi, at MF Global Securities in London, said for all the dramatic headlines that have been written about money markets recently many people did not realise just how serious the situation had become.

With banks refusing to lend to each other there was a very real risk that the banking system could have seized up entirely, sparking a devastating global recession that could have lasted for years.

Against that background, the deal to provide $700bn support for US banks that emerged from a week of political posturing in Washington was hugely significant.

The bail-out will allow banks to sell potentially bad assets to the state-owned troubled assets relief programme. That should help allay fears among the potential counterparties of the banks concerned that they are safe to lend to.

It could also help put a valuation on mortgage-backed assets.

By allowing banks to get the assets off their balance sheets, it will provide an important boost to their capital ratios.

The move could bring significant benefit to all banks with exposure to US property markets, including Royal Bank of Scotland.

This had £3.4bn net exposure to US commercial and residential mortgages, including £257m classed as sub-prime, at June 30.

Last night it looked like any deal would come too late to save troubled Fortis. The Dutch-Belgian giant that bought ABN Amro with Royal Bank and Santander looked set to be sold to rivals ING and BNP in a cut-price deal.

However, if the bail-out succeeds in getting US credit markets moving again, the benefits should spread to the UK and continental Europe. Banks might then make more money available to borrowers at less punitive rates than have been charged lately.

With the Bank of England making £40bn longer-term funding available to lenders from today, one banking source said the bail-out was "extremely helpful".

However, Tazi warned: "This is an important milestone but banks are not off the hook yet. We are moving from a liquidity to a credit crisis."

The problems that banks' clients face in the real world are growing daily. With the housing market under increasing pressure commentators fear a prolonged economic slowdown which will put fresh pressure on lenders.

Sector-watchers believe more banks could collapse.

In the meantime, expect the rows about Lloyds TSB's proposed takeover of HBOS to rumble on.