In an interview last summer, Dick Fuld was asked whether the credit crunch would take a significant bite out of Lehman Brothers, which to that point had avoided the worst fallout from a crisis that had hit other Wall Street banks.

Mr Fuld, a physically imposing 62-year-old known for his voracious appetite and pugnacious defence of Lehman against all critics, leaned back in his chair and glowered at his interlocutor.