Downing Street Says » Lehman Brothers

» Monday, September 15, 2008

Lehman Brothers

Asked for a reaction to the news that Lehman Brothers had filed for bankruptcy, the PMS replied that we would not comment on specific firms. There had been a statement from the Financial Services Authority (FSA). What the events of this weekend had once again demonstrated was that there were challenges affecting financial markets in every country across the world.

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about the potential knock-on effects in British financial markets, the PMS said these were clearly challenging global market conditions, as the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and others had been making clear. However, the UK economy was better placed than it had been in the past to deal with these global challenges and this difficult period.

Asked whether the Prime Minister had spoken to any foreign officials regarding the situation in financial markets, the PMS said that the tripartite authorities, the Treasury, the Bank of England and the FSA, were in very close contact with their US counterparts and other international counterparts, as people would expect. Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to Hank Paulson at all, the PMS explained that Hank Paulson was the US Treasury Secretary so contact would normally be with the Chancellor and the Treasury.

Asked whether the Prime Minister had spoken to Alistair Darling about the situation, the PMS said the Prime Minister was in very regular contact with Alistair Darling. Asked if there were any sort of emergency meetings last night, the PMS replied that he wasn t sure he would characterise it in those terms, but obviously the Prime Minister had been kept informed of developments over the weekend as people would expect.

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