But governments acted just in time to prop up the global banking system, so the coming recession may not be 'really ugly', said the author of a new book titled The Age of Aging.

Mr George Magnus, a UBS Investment Bank senior economic adviser, said this in an interview when he highlighted the distress of older investors and the extent of the global recession.

Read Lee Siew Hua's full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.