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Chronology of the recent financial chaos

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-21 09:24

Here is a chronology of the recent global market chaos:

September 14/15 - Investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc files for bankruptcy protection; Merrill Lynch & Co Inc to be taken over by Bank of America Corp.

September 16 - US Federal Reserve announces plan for $85 billion loan to American International Group Inc in return for an 80 percent stake in the insurer; Britain's Barclays buys parts of Lehman's North American assets for $1.75 billion.

September 17 - British bank Lloyds TSB Group Plc agrees to rescue rival HBOS Plc, scooping up Britain's biggest home-loan lender in an all-share deal.

September 19 - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls for the government to spend billions of dollars to take toxic mortgage assets off financial companies. Stock markets soar.

September 20 - Details emerge of the $700 billion US plan.

September 21 - Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley become bank holding companies regulated by the Fed.

September 22 - Nomura Holdings Inc says it will buy Lehman's franchise in Asia Pacific and acquires Lehman's business in Europe. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial agrees to buy up to 20 percent of Morgan Stanley for $8.5 billion.

September 23 - AIG signs definitive agreement for up to $85 billion in borrowings from the Fed, the main part of a rescue plan that will see it take a 79.9 percent stake in the insurer.

September 24 - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc says it will buy up to 9 percent of Goldman, which also announced plans to sell $2.5 billion in common stock.

-- The FBI says it is expanding its probe of possible corporate fraud related to the US mortgage market collapse. The probe will include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were effectively nationalised on July 13.

September 25 - Washington Mutual is closed by the U.S. government in the largest failure of a U.S. bank. Its banking assets are sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.9 billion.

September 29 - Britain announces the nationalisation of mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley Plc. Banking and insurance company Fortis NV is bailed out by Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments.

-- US House of Representatives rejects the $700 billion rescue plan.

September 30 - World stocks fall, but fears of a major meltdown ease as European losses are muted.

-- EU regulators endorse a 6.4 billion euros public bailout of Dexia SA, the Belgian-French financial services group.

October 1 - US Senate passes the bailout plan.

October 2 - Irish lawmakers vote to enact radical legislation guaranteeing Irish bank deposits and debts up to a total of 400 billion euros ($554 billion).

October 3 - The US House of Representatives passes a revised bailout plan.

-- Wells Fargo & Co says it has agreed to buy Wachovia Corp for about $16 billion, thwarting a planned Citigroup Inc deal announced on September 29. However, Citigroup wins a court order on October 4 blocking the deal until the court rules otherwise. The two remain locked in an intense battle.

-- The Dutch government buys Fortis for 16.8 billion euros ($23.28 billion). Belgium and Luxembourg scramble the next day to find a buyer for the remainder of the company.

October 5 - Germany pledges to guarantee private deposit accounts. Germany also clinches a revised rescue deal for lender Hypo Real Estate after banks and insurers pulled out of a state-led 35 billion euros ($48.5 billion) rescue programme.

October 6 - France's BNP Paribas scoops up the assets of Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg for 14.5 billion euros ($19.71 billion) to stem a cash drain on Fortis and Dexia.

October 8 - The US Fed leads a coordinated, global round of emergency interest rate cuts.

-- Britain offers to pump at least 50 billion pounds ($87.2 billion) into its biggest retail banks to help them survive.

October 9 - Iceland, whose prime minister warned of "national bankruptcy", takes control of its biggest bank, Kaupthing, the third major Icelandic bank to be taken over by the state.

October 10 - Japan's Nikkei tumbles nearly 10 percent, registering its biggest one-day drop since 1987.

-- Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven meet in Washington and pledge to prevent big banks from collapse and to work together to stem the crisis. The International Monetary Fund backs the G7 plan the next day.

October 12 - European leaders meeting in Paris rush out plans to help banks through the crisis.

October 13 - Britain wades in with 37 billion pounds ($64 billion) of taxpayers' cash for three major banks -- Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB.

October 14 - Japan joins the global push, saying it could inject public funds into regional banks. The Nikkei surges more than 14 percent -- the biggest one-day gain in its history.

-- Iceland's stock market plunges 76 percent as it resumes trading.

-- The US offers to take $250 billion worth of stakes in nine top banks. Paulson says government part-ownership of banks was "objectionable" but vital to tackle the crisis.

October 16 - UBS AG is to get a 6 billion Swiss franc ($5.30 billion) injection from the state in return for a 9.3 percent shareholding. Switzerland's other major bank, Credit Suisse Group, says it will raise 10 billion from outside investors to insulate themselves from the crisis.

October 18 - US President George W. Bush meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. They agree to hold global summits on the crisis.

October 19 - South Korea unveils rescue package worth over $130 billion, offering state guarantee on foreign debt and promising to recapitalise financial firms.