Lehman 2.0

The financial firm of Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September 2008—the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Any other large bankruptcy or great financial collapse (Greece, for example) has often been dubbed “Lehman 2.0.”
 
“Lehman 2.0” has been cited in print since at least March 2009.
 
     
Wikipedia: Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker symbol LEH) ( /ˈliːmən/) was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch), doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading (especially U.S. Treasury securities), research, investment management, private equity, and private banking.
 
On September 15, 2008, the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following the massive exodus of most of its clients, drastic losses in its stock, and devaluation of its assets by credit rating agencies. The filing marked the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, and is thought to have played a major role in the unfolding of the late-2000s global financial crisis. The following day, Barclays announced its agreement to purchase, subject to regulatory approval, Lehman’s North American investment-banking and trading divisions along with its New York headquarters building. On September 20, 2008, a revised version of that agreement was approved by US Bankruptcy Court Judge James M. Peck. The next week, Nomura Holdings announced that it would acquire Lehman Brothers’ franchise in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, Hong Kong and Australia, as well as Lehman Brothers’ investment banking and equities businesses in Europe and the Middle East. The deal became effective on October 13, 2008.
     
Econbrowser
March 10, 2009
Moral hazard and AIG
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COMMENTS
Realistically, the only alternative scenario to staggered bankruptcies is the one we are in: continue to shovel the money, talking as though some large institution might be allowed to fail—stress tests, etc.—but never actually allowing it because of FUD over Lehman 2.0. The existence of the shoveling reinforces the bail-out expectation so that an actual BK would be Lehman 2.0 writ larger.
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Posted by: d4winds at March 11, 2009 07:03 AM
 
Forex Razor
The Greek Debt Crisis: Lehman 2.0?
Dian L. Chu submits: As if Greece did not already… @ 4:28 AM, Sunday April 25 2010
Dian L. Chu submits:
As if Greece did not already have enough problems. The market was already jolted by the Goldman SEC case. Then, it was the cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland postponed a key meeting with European Union [EU] and International Monetary Fund [IMF] officials on aid for the country.
 
Wall Street Sector Selector
Here comes Lehman 2.0
John Nyaradi on MarketWatch.com | John Nyaradi | September 7, 2011 1:18 pm
BEND, Ore. (MarketWatch) — With Friday’s Federal government lawsuit against seventeen major banks and renewed dangers in Europe, global investors now face the potential peril of two “Lehman Events” as we say goodbye to summer and slip into September.
 
ETF Trends
European Financials ETF Signaling Bull Market?
January 24th at 2:05pm by Michael A. Gayed CFA  
Many investors are unable to understand why markets have shed last year’s volatile swings and are trending steadily higher so far in 2012.
 
It’s worth asking if the crowd is right to distrust the rally, or if a legitimate change has taken place underneath the market’s surface. Europe is still going through a recession and we could be headed for Lehman 2.0 still, right?
 
NASDAQ.com
Strong auto sales boost India bull case (INP, TTM, ICN)
Posted 2/3/2012 10:36 AM by Emerging Money
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If markets are indeed beginning to sense that the end of Europe is not right here, right now, and if SuperBen and the League of Extraordinary Bankers—to use my term to describe central banks from developed countries—have averted Lehman 2.0, then money more generally likely can flow back aggressively into the growth story of the BRICs, an acronym that stands for Brazil ( EWZ , quote ), Russia ( RSX , quote ), India ( INP , quote ), and China ( FXI , quote ).
 
Zero Hedge
“Lehman 2.0” Imminent Warns John Taylor
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/16/2012 09:00 -0500
By John R. Taylor, Jr. Chief Investment Officer FX Concepts
Lehman 2.0
Global investors either have extremely short memories or they are far too concrete, as my wife the psychologist would say. Saying that Greece is not a bank but a country means nothing. Almost all Europeans argue that a default by the Greek government would now be more straightforward and not as significant as the collapse and bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, especially since the Eurozone, under the influence of the surplus countries, has effectively ‘ring-fenced’ Greece from the other 16 members. Lehman was not a very large factor in the global banking scene with less than one quarter the capital of the biggest US banks and with assets below those of more than 100 banks around the world. Greece might represent less than 3% of the GDP of the Eurozone, but when lined up against Lehman, Greece stands larger in its relevant market.
 
Zero Hedge
Greece is Not Lehman 2.0… As I’ll Show, It’s Much Much Worse
Submitted by Phoenix Capital Research on 02/16/2012 12:17 -0500
Investors simply do not understand the significance of Greece. Comparisons are being made to Lehman, but these comparisons are mute for the following reason: Greece is a country not a private institution.
 
This is not a subtle difference. True, Lehman’s derivatives were spread throughout the global financial system just as Greek sovereign debt is. However, investors are missing the point of the fall-out a Greek default would create.