Lehman Brothers intensified the global financial crash when it filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008. With about $639 billion in assets, it became the largest bankruptcy filing in United States history at that time.
Lehman had accumulated major exposure to subprime mortgages and mortgage-related securities. As housing prices fell and mortgage defaults rose, investors became increasingly doubtful about the firm's balance sheet. The company could not secure a rescue or buyer, and its collapse sharply increased fear throughout the financial system.
The bankruptcy did not begin the 2008 crisis; credit markets had already been under severe pressure, and Bear Stearns had been rescued months earlier. However, Lehman's failure had an exceptionally broad effect. Money-market funds, banks, insurers, and governments faced rapidly worsening confidence, prompting emergency lending, guarantees, and bank rescues in several countries.