With Valentines’ Day around the corner – that annual couple’s extravaganza that glibly reminds us singles of our singleness - I bought a stuffed orangutan to keep me company as I walked passed Hamleys on Regent Street. If this sounds sad, it’s because, well, it is. As markets crash, so it seems have the love lives of bankers.

The global financial crisis affected the normally durable “City couple” negatively. The stress of the market has invariably increased stress in relationships, as maids and nannies are deemed frivolous extras. Some on the verge of breaking up are being forced to live with their estranged exes, as they can’t sell their houses. British couples are resorting to counselling, while New Yorkers are forming support groups, such as Dating a Banker Anonymous. As their shopping budgets have been cut, and bottle service has all but disappeared, many City bankers’ wives and girlfriends are now left questioning whether they’re in it for love or money.

Of course, City girls like me who can afford their own bottle service are as lovelorn as those gold-digging girlfriends. I had pretty much given up on both V-day and Cityboys in general until I decided to try a last-minute Valentines’ social experiment on a date with my columnist rival: Cityboy himself.

It was like looking into a mirror, only he was about £2m richer. We were both whistleblowers, a bit creative (for bankers,) and never quite “fit in” to the whole Square Mile thing. We discussed the fan mail, the hate mail, and "thelondonpaper" bosses.

But ultimately, Valentines Day is as poor of an excuse to hook up with someone as the Credit Crunch is to dump them. If you’re with someone you truly care about, don’t wait until February 14th to say so; and if you’re with someone you can’t stand, don’t wait until they get laid-off to leave.

For this V-Day, however, it's certainly easier to pick up a bargain in the dating market than the financial one.