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These brands will cut their spend by as much as 10% this year as the credit crunch continues, according to Thomson Intermedia.

Other commentators predict that the whole financial services market could be hit by as much as £150m. International publishers claim finance brands with a strong exposure in the US are scaling back adspend; other firms that offer cheap credit terms will also pare back budgets.

The warnings follow scenes of customers queuing to withdraw cash from branches of Northern Rock after the Bank of England agreed emergency funding.

Adam Smith, futures director at GroupM, said the crisis will affect UK GDP. 'Lenders will get more picky about who they target, so we are likely to see a reduction in the amount spent in broad-based media,' he said.  However, David Fletcher, head of MediaLab at Media-edge:cia, said Northern Rock's problems may bring extra short-term spend to the market as rivals compete to grab the estimated £3bn withdrawn from the bank.