Did Merrill Lynch benefit from the Lehman Brothers collapse?
As the timeline for the collapse of Lehman Brothers continues to unfold there is a feeling that Merrill Lynch may well have benefited from insider knowledge that the company was going under. Rumours have been rife for days that Merrill Lynch was struggling to stay afloat and the onset of last ditch talks to avert the collapse of Lehman Brothers seems to have alerted others in the market to act sooner rather than later. So did Merrill Lynch benefit from government advice?
When we suggest insider information this is not to suggest that they benefitted financially from the Lehman Brothers talks just that the attitude of the government became more apparent, i.e. it was not willing to bail out another financial company. With this in mind it is believed that Merrill Lynch was 'advised' to begin talks with cash rich Bank of America in a bid to secure the firm's future.
Quick fire talks began over the weekend with a phone call between the two executive officers and by Monday morning a $50 billion takeover was already signed sealed and delivered. If Merrill Lynch had left it a little later or gone looking to the government for financial assistance it may have been too late to save the group. So at least one plus has come out of the Lehman Brothers debacle.
Share this..
Related stories
Wind power delay for UK government
Despite yesterday claiming that up to 50% of UK homes will have their electricity supply originating from wind power by 2020, the UK government has been forced to admit that this particular plan is ambitious to say the least. Aside from the fact that the 6,400 new wind farms, which will be located offshore, will take longer than first expected to arrive there is also the problem of transferring th...
Read MoreA quarter of Npower customers complained in 2014
13/02/2015 More than a quarter of all Npower customers complained to the energy supplier last year, according to figures from Ofgem, the energy regulator. Npower, one of the “Big Six” main energy suppliers in the UK, received 1.48 million complaints in 2014, the highest proportion of any energy supplier in the UK. This worked out at 28,000 complaints per 100,000 customers, just over 28%...
Read MoreDiversification Is the Name Of The Game
Diversification in the investment world is something which the professionals will always preach but few of the public actually follow. Some of the excuses include a lack of funds to invest, sticking to steady markets and 'I know what I am doing'. Never forget that pride comes before a fall!
Who would have thought that just over 12 months ago those with massive property gains would...
Will the Royal Bank of Scotland ever be as prominent again?
As we move beyond the Sir Fred Goodwin era at the Royal Bank of Scotland there are concerns that the former giant of the UK banking sector will never regain its prominent position in the UK. The Royal Bank of Scotland was one of the most aggressive banking operations in the UK, taking over significant competitors across the world, with a definite focus on the US.
While for a time th...
How Does The Exchange Rate Affect You?
The sterling / dollar exchange rate has always been a very important factor for UK businesses with a vast number of UK based groups trading with the United States. While the fall in rates will see exporters licking their lips in anticipation of a more competitive trading environment, it is a different scenario for those goods which are imported.
Exports
If a UK compa...