Lehman Brothers Holdings files for bankruptcy

Conditions at the time

Funding and confidence weakened amid concerns over illiquid assets and valuations.

How events unfolded

It filed for bankruptcy on 9/15, followed by increased short-term funding-market and counterparty risks.

Stakeholders and impacts

Creditors, counterparties and money-market funds holding Lehman debt were affected.

Information available at the time

Disclosed losses and funding concerns were known at the time, but detailed asset and liquidity problems were established more fully in subsequent investigations.

Findings confirmed later

Subsequent testimony identified rising collateral and margin demands and failure to secure routine funding as direct transmission mechanisms.

Alternative interpretations and limitations

The legal entity was the holding company; not every affiliate entered the same process on the same day. The entire crisis is not treated as the single consequence of Lehman’s bankruptcy.

Interpretation using later sources

The bankruptcy filing should be distinguished from subsequent funding-market transmission. A Federal Reserve retrospective explains that Lehman's holding company received no institution-specific rescue, but its dealer subsidiary used special credit facilities. Losses on Lehman commercial paper then disrupted a money market fund's redemption price, prompting withdrawals and commercial-paper sales elsewhere. Saying Lehman received no support at all is inaccurate; this transmission channel also does not make its bankruptcy the sole cause of the crisis.

Evidence coverage through 2008-09-18 · Sources checked 2026-10-14

• Support for Specific Institutions ↗

Related events and periods1

• Financial-crisis response and unconventional monetary policy →

  An event or period whose recorded start falls within this editorial interval. This does not establish that it caused or represents the characteristics of the era, nor guarantee that the entire period falls within the interval.