Former Lehmans boss says no regrets over financial crisis

THE multi-millionaire Wall Street banker at the helm of Lehman Brothers when it went under in 2008 has blamed a ‘perfect storm’ rather than the behaviour of bosses like himself for causing the financial crisis.

Dick Fuld, 69, who is trying to make a comeback to the world of finance, cited ordinary US mortgage holders who borrowed against the value of their home as the culprits. He also blamed government officials who wanted to help poorer families get on the housing ladder for triggering the global collapse. ‘It’s not just a one single thing, it’s all these things taken together,’ he said in a bizarre and defiant speech at a small companies conference in New York. It is his first such appearance since Lehman went bankrupt.

In an extraordinary set of remarks, he called for ‘new leadership’ in the White House and used the catchphrase ‘no regrets’ several times. The notorious banker told his audience to ‘enjoy the ride’ and gave advice on life, love and death.

His philosophising will enrage former employees after he implied they should have been alert to the risks at Lehman because part of their pay came in the form of shares.

‘Regardless of what you heard about Lehman’s risk management, we had 27,000 risk managers because they all had a piece of the firm,’ he said.

Shortly after Lehman’s collapse, Fuld – pictured – launched a firm, Matrix Advisors. It has around a dozen active clients, according to the Wall Street Journal.

He claimed ‘not a day goes by’ when he doesn’t think about Lehman, but that it is now time for him ‘to raise my ugly head’.

Previous public appearances have mainly been in front of politicians to be grilled over the crisis. In 2008, Senator Henry Waxman said Fuld ‘can walk away from Lehman a wealthy man who earned over $500m,’ a figure Fuld denied, saying the amount was less than $310m.