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How Lehman collapsed

Francesco Guerrera

In the first of our special video reports on the fall from grace of a Wall Street icon, Francesco Guerrera looks at the rise and fall of Lehman

Video interviews: The view from the Street

Vodeo: Bob Dimaond

Bob Diamond, Bryan Marsal and Rodgin Cohen look back at efforts to rescue something from the wreckage of the Lehman collapse

Video interview: Alistair Darling

Video: Alistair Darling

Chris Giles asks the chancellor if he regrets any decisions taken the weekend of Lehman’s collapse, about the pressures at the time and the lessons learned

Lehman debate

Have banks changed enough to avoid another financial crisis? Join the debate

Related content and features

FT series

AIG behemoth is trying to regain its feet

A year on from September 16, when the Fed had to bend the rules to prevent the world’s largest insurer from being crushed under lossmaking derivatives contracts, AIG’s destiny is unclear

Lehman woe proved timely for BarCap

If there is one distinct winner to have emerged from the wreckage of the Lehman collapse and the financial turmoil that ensued, it is the investment banking arm of the UK bank

Jury out on Nomura’s ‘organised chaos’

A year after acquiring most of Lehman Brothers’ businesses in Europe, Asia and the Middle East when the Wall Street institution collapsed, Nomura’s biggest challenge lies in playing down those Asian roots

Doubts linger over BofA-Merrill deal

After a year of unrelenting criticism, the BofA chief executive still has one trump card he can play in the debate about the acquisition: the deal makes profound strategic sense

Former North Fork banker makes comeback

John Kanas sold North Fork, a lender based in New York City’s Long Island suburbs, in 2006 for $15bn – and pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars of the proceeds himself. Mr Kanas is back in the game – as the new chief executive of BankUnited

Golden couple refuse to shoulder blame

Herb and Marion Sandler, the founders of Golden West Financial, who sold their California mortgage lender to Wachovia in 2006, reject suggestions that the mortgage lender’s portfolio was solely responsible for the bank’s fall from grace

Depfa chief’s vision lauded over HRE

Many Depfa analysts believe Gerhard Bruckermann showed vision when he struck a deal in July 2007 to sell the bank to Hypo Real Estate amid the gathering financial crisis

How timing saved ex-RBS chief’s reputation

Sir George Mathewson, former RBS chairman, left just before the ill-fated ABN Amro deal that turned the bank’s fortunes; ’I felt I left the bank in good shape,’ he says

Dutch banking stalwart urges bonuses reform

Rijkman Groenink, ABN Amro’s former chief executive, who himself became the target for public outrage over excessive pay, believes the time for reform has come

Latest news

Lehman seeks $10bn clawback in Barclays suit

Attorneys representing the estate of Lehman Brothers filed a lawsuit against Barclays Capital, seeking to claw back as much as $10bn that it claims was transferred to the UK bank last year in the frenzied days following Lehman’s bankruptcy

Definition on Lehman client money sought

Hedge funds arguing for share of $2bn pool

Court asked to back Lehman asset scheme

Plan seeks to modify rights of clients

Lehman client funds ruled safe

Court judgement favours hedge funds

PwC fees mount to £154m in Lehman wind-up

Accountancy and legal fees head into record territory

Morgan Stanley sells Lehman claim

Market booms in Lehman-linked claims and bonds trade

Obama pledges reform on Lehman anniversary

Proposals aim to stop repeat of global crisis

Lehman creditors face long delays

Winding up could take further two years

Comment & Analysis

Do not learn wrong lessons from Lehman

Martin Wolf

We were not so foolish as to risk a cascading failure of banks. Yet we cannot let stand the doctrine that significant institutions are too big or interconnected to be allowed to fail, writes Martin Wolf

‘I got a call at 5 o’clock ...’

Lehman: One year on, a new financial order is emerging. While questions remain over Washington’s role, surviving banks are thriving, write Francesco Guerrera and Michael Mackenzie

The legacy of Lehman Brothers

Policymakers must own up to the fact that there are some institutions they can never credibly claim they will let fail. They must identify who they are backstopping so they can charge for that insurance

    Why a rescue of Lehman would not have saved us

    If only Lehman Brothers had been saved, all would have been for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Actually no. A decision to bail out the bank would almost certainly have had worse consequences than letting Dick Fuld and his company go under, writes Niall Ferguson

    The economics of folly

    What if there was nothing inevitable about the Lehman Brothers shock? What if the real cause was something as mundane as stupidity?

    Banks and their legacy

    Gillian Tett

    Leaving ‘living wills’ in order to improve transparency may never fly, writes Gillian Tett

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      Viewpoint: three commentators on the legacy

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      Viewpoint: Lessons to be learnt

      Lehman leads the way in ‘lottery ticket’ rally

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      Citadel files Lehman-linked claim