Richard Fuld (b. 1946)

Who They Were

Richard Fuld (born 1946) is an American banker best known as the last chief executive of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank whose failure was a defining moment of the 2008 financial crisis. Fuld spent almost his entire career at the firm, joining it decades before the crisis and eventually leading it as chairman and chief executive during the years of rapid growth in mortgage-related finance. Under his leadership Lehman took on heavy exposure to the U.S. housing and subprime mortgage markets. When those markets collapsed, the firm was unable to raise enough capital or find a buyer, and in September 2008 Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy - the largest such filing in U.S. history. Its failure sent shockwaves through global markets and intensified the wider crisis. Fuld left the firm as it collapsed and later worked in smaller financial advisory ventures.

Key Contributions

Fuld's significance to economic history lies less in any idea than in the collapse he presided over. As Lehman's long-serving chief executive, he came to symbolize the aggressive risk-taking and heavy leverage that characterized Wall Street in the years before 2008. The government's decision not to arrange a rescue of Lehman - in contrast to other institutions supported that year - made its bankruptcy a pivotal and much-debated event, widely seen as the point at which the crisis turned into a global panic. In later testimony before Congress, Fuld defended his stewardship and pointed to broader market forces, while critics faulted the firm's exposure and disclosure. His name remains closely associated with debates over too big to fail, executive accountability, and the risks of highly leveraged finance.

On EconRecall

The last chief executive of Lehman Brothers, whose September 2008 bankruptcy - the largest in U. Play the games that feature Richard Fuld:

• The 2008 Financial Crisis