The collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment
bank
The American investment bank Lehman Brothers recently placed
itself under the protection of Chapter 11 of the American
Bankruptcy Act. This caused a commotion in the financial press.
Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed) took the
operations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two
American mortgage giants, under its wing, and last March it a
guaranteed most of the asset value of Bear Stearns, another
American investment bank which helped facilitate its purchase by JP
Morgan Chase. But on September 14, the Fed refused to offer
the same guarantee to the potential buyer of Lehman
Brothers' assets.
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