Which company’s bankruptcy intensified the 2008 global financial crisis?

Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy intensified the 2008 global financial crisis.

The investment bank filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, after failing to find a buyer or secure a government rescue. With more than $600 billion in assets, it was the largest bankruptcy filing in United States history at the time. Its collapse immediately shook banks, money-market funds, credit markets, and stock exchanges worldwide.

Lehman had accumulated major exposure to United States real estate and mortgage-related securities. When the housing bubble burst and mortgage defaults increased, those assets lost value. Confidence between financial institutions deteriorated because banks could not easily determine which counterparties were vulnerable.

Lehman was not the first major institution affected by the crisis: Bear Stearns had been rescued in March 2008, while American International Group received emergency support shortly after Lehman failed. The bankruptcy became a symbol of the crisis because it demonstrated how interconnected and fragile the global financial system had become.