The shock to the global financial system in 2020, caused by the coronavirus, provides is a test for the measures taken since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. The coronavirus has caused a shock to the global economic system, disrupting both supply and demand, and this demands more direct government intervention than central banks are able to provide. Whereas the 2008 crisis was one centred on the global banking system that of 2020 was an event akin to a war, natural disaster, or a political revolution. In turn that had implications for the global financial system as it contained the potential to destabilize banks by threatening the solvency of those to whom they had made loans and extended credit. To forestall such an event central banks are called upon to act as lenders of last resort, particularly the Federal Reserve, as it was the only one capable of supplying the US$s on which all banks relied when making and receiving payments, and borrowing and lending, among themselves. From the outset that response appears to have learned lessons from the mistakes of the 2008 crisis, in terms of speed, scale, and co-ordination, while the global banking system is far more resilient.