In a testimony in front of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), Bernanke said that the Fed could not lend massive amounts of money to Lehman—as it later did to other banks—because Lehman at that time did not have enough collateral to obtain the loan, as the firm was already too stricken to be saved, according to his remarks in front of the FCIC.
“The view was that failure was essentially certain in either case,” Bernanke said. Lehman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, Sep. 13, 2008, after British bank Barclays Plc agreed to purchase the firm’s U.S. broker-dealer business. Earlier last week, former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld argued that the U.S. regulators had the power to save the firm, but did not pull the trigger.