Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, what lessons can be drawn?

Abstract

What is in a name? In the case of Lehman Brothers the name has two different and distinct meanings. Prior to the autumn of 2008, Lehman Brothers referred to one of the oldest investment banks in the USA, with roots in the cotton exchange of the mid- 19th century. At the time it filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code, Lehman Brothers Holdings International was the fourth largest US investment bank and the largest bankruptcy on record. Today Lehman Brothers, used synonymously with the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing, is commonly used to refer to an important episode during the 2007–2009 financial crisis. To borrow a line from Winston Churchill, the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing on 15 September 2008 did not represent the beginning of the end of the financial crisis, but rather marked the end of the beginning.