FT Alphaville: The Lehman anniversary series
FTAlphaville’s coverage includes dramatisation of an account by a junior Lehman M&A banker who watched the collapse unfold in 2008
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Part 2 - The Lehman aftershock
A year on from the collapse, John Authers examines how the failure of a Wall Street bank caused chaos in markets around the globe
Video interviews: The view from the Street
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
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
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
Ernst & Young set to face suit over Lehman
New York state prosecutors could file civil fraud charges against Ernst & Young for allegedly helping Lehman Brothers hide debt, according to a person familiar with the matter
Lehman seeks $10bn clawback in Barclays suit
Lawyers claim revised contract created loopholes
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
Comment & Analysis
Do not learn wrong lessons from Lehman
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
Leaving ‘living wills’ in order to improve transparency may never fly, writes Gillian Tett
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