Fuld, Lehman's and my piano

Richard Fuld just couldn't believe Lehman Bros could fail. Had he sold the bank earlier, the 158 year old concern would still be in existence. Barclay's is likely to buy the US unit as one lot. The London arm is likely to be broken up with the loss of 5,000 jobs. Lehman fund managers are highly valued in the industry so some of them will be snapped up by other banks.

The history is interesting. Barclay's bank was founded by an East Anglian Quaker family. One of the founders was a shareholder in Overend and Gurney, a bank that went bust in the credit crunch of 1866. Overend and Gurney provided loans to newly-incorporated businesses. The loans were made through intermediaries. Some of these were unscrupulous and arranged loans to farmers and labourers who had no way of repaying the loan. Have you heard this before? The bank crashed with debts equivalent to £800 million today (ie same as Barings).

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