Which company’s bankruptcy became the symbolic turning point of the 2008 financial crisis?

Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy became the symbolic turning point of the 2008 financial crisis.

The investment bank filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008, after suffering enormous losses linked to the U.S. housing and mortgage markets. With more than $600 billion in assets, it was the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history at that time.

Lehman’s collapse intensified fear throughout global financial markets because banks were uncertain about one another’s exposure to troubled mortgage-related securities. Credit markets seized up, stock prices plunged, and governments began extraordinary rescue measures.

Bear Stearns had already been rescued and sold to JPMorgan Chase in March 2008, while Merrill Lynch agreed to be acquired by Bank of America during the same weekend as Lehman’s failure. Those events are often grouped together, but Lehman was the company that actually filed for bankruptcy.