Ten years ago on Saturday, the investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings collapsed overnight into bankruptcy as the global financial system teetered on the brink of ruin.
It marked a pivotal week that saw the US government move in to save the insurance giant American International Group and issue a massive bailout to America’s banks. The major US indexes lost 4 per cent of their value and long-time names on Wall Street, including Merrill Lynch, were absorbed into other banks in the coming days.
The contagion spread to other parts of the world and the ensuing financial crisis, sparked by a collapse in the US housing market, ultimately destroyed US$34.4 billion in wealth globally when equity markets hit their lowest point in March 2009, according to the Roosevelt Institute, a US think tank.Read more
Source : Scmp