On Friday September 12th 2008, I got a call that I need to go to the office at 8am on Saturday September 13th. What my team needs to do was to get all Lehman Brothers deals with my firm and run the risk reports with the market up and down scenarios. We finished the reports around noon and turned them to the control team to decide whether the reports were good or not. We then went to the dining hall to get a lunch. After lunch, we got the word that the reports were good and we could go home. Before leaving the office, I went to use the washroom. In the washroom, I saw another director, we had a small chat. He had told me that he had just finished a conference call, and he was asked to look at Merrill Lynch deals with our firm.
On the following Monday September 15th, we had all heard that Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Thinking back the conversation in the washroom, that was the moment when Lehman Brothers fate was almost doomed since my firm was one of two companies were looking at taking over Lehman Brothers.
September 15th, 2008 was the day that the great recession started. Where were you on that Monday? How are you doing today 10 years later?