Analysts at investment bank JPMorgan say the recession in two years’ time could see central banks spiral into depression.
Energy prices, the value of base metals and shares in emerging markets, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China would plummet, they claim.
And the crash will see US shares could drop by 20%, below the 50% tumble in the S&P 500 index a decade ago.
Analyst at the bank, Marko Kolanovic predicted the next financial crisis could be sparked by “flash crashes” – sudden stock sell-offs by computerised trading systems.
“Basically, right now, you have large groups of investors who are purely mechanical,” Mr Kolanovic said.
“They sell on certain signals and not necessarily on fundamental developments. Meaning if the market goes down 2%, then they need to sell.”
This “great liquidity crisis”, as described by Mr Kolanovic, would require central banks to take action to prevent a spiral into a depression.
“The next crisis is also likely to result in social tensions similar to those witnessed 50 years ago in 1968,” added Mr Kolanovic.
The 2008 crisis was the worst financial period since the Great Depression following the stock market crash of 1929.
Huge investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, which played a major part in the unfolding of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Other financial institutions fell across the world – prompting desperate customers to form huge queues outside banks to grab their cash.
And it's feared this could happen again.
JPMorgan strategists John Normand and Federico Manicardi described this scenario as “probably unalarming” relative to the average of past crises.
Their analysis is based on a model that takes into account the length of the economic expansion, the potential duration of the next recession, the degree of leverage, asset-price valuations and the level of deregulation and financial innovation before the crisis.
Last week, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned the world was in danger of “sleepwalking into a future crisis”.
The latest recession prediction comes as the governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney warned a no-deal Brexit could lead to a financial crisis as bad as the crash in 2008.
Britain is due to leave the EU in March 2019.
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