A Brief History of Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers was originally founded in 1850 by two cotton brokers in Montgomery Alabama and has since grown into one of Wall Street’s investment giants. On September 15, 2008 Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection in the largest bankruptcy filing in US history. Like many other Wall Street firms affected by the current financial crisis Lehman Brothers had a troubled history. In 2003 the Securities Exchange Commission obtained a settlement of $80 million dollars against Lehman Brothers alleging that the firm had improperly associated analyst compensation with the firm’s investment banking revenues. In August 2007 Lehman Brothers closed their subprime lender BNC mortgage resulting in the loss of 1200 jobs in 23 locations.

A Troubled History

In 2008 Lehman faced serious losses due to the subprime mortgage crisis that struck Wall Street. Because of tightening credit markets Lehman Brothers stock lost 73% of its value. Reports in August 2008 indicated that a Korean bank was interested in buying the troubled firm but Lehman’s stock continued to plunge and the deal was called off. Lehman’s stock declined further on September 11, 2008. On September 15, 2008 Lehman Brothers announced it would seek chapter 11 bankruptcy protection making it the largest filing in US history. Despite the doom and gloom on world markets the US dollar is strong and providing investors with Forex opportunities not to be had on world stock markets.

No Bailout For Lehman Brothers

Because of the Federal Bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac there was speculation that the Federal government would step in and bail out Lehman Brothers. The speculation ended when Secretary of the Treasury announced that there would be no taxpayer funded bailout of Lehman Brothers. Both Bank of America and Barclays Bank had expressed interest in buying part of Lehman Brothers but interest waned when it was announced there would be no Federal money to back up assets. After behind the scenes machinations that would have done credit to a Byzantine emperor it was announced the game was over.

Barclay’s Buyout

Uk based bank Barclays announced a buyout of the bankrupt bank saving the jobs of approximately one third of Lehman’s staff. Barclay’s CEO John Varley stated to Reuters that his company had “opportunities but not the obligation” to take over Lehman’s operations in Europe and Asia. How the takeover will work in anyone’s guess. Since the US financial crisis uncertainty is the feeling in markets throughout the world. The failure of this venerable Wall Street institution will be studied be economics students for decades to come. Despite the global financial and banking crisis the US dollar is offering investors some surprising Forex opportunities.