We may never know who really wrote that internal Lehman Brothers memo of June 8 this year, but it certainly asked the right question. “Why did we allow ourselves to be so exposed?” it demanded.
By early June it was too late to start worrying about all that. And in theory it should never have been necessary to do so. When Dick Fuld, Lehman’s former chief executive, was interviewed by Euromoney magazine in July 2005, he explained why.
“I expect everyone at the firm to be a risk manager,” Mr Fuld declared. “All 12 of us [on the executive committee] are focused on all parts of the business. It’s all about risk management. If it’s just me then we’re in trouble.”