Dick Fuld: I’m sorry after all
DICK Fuld, the man who presided over the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers that sent shockwaves around the world, has said sorry to former staff of the firm.
A year after the spectacular bank failure, it has emerged that Fuld privately confessed he spent too much time out of the office and not enough managing risk at Lehman.
“I spent too much time out of the office with clients and trusted other people to manage the risk. I’m sorry.”
The comments, which have appeared in a Wall Street Journal account of a meeting with former Lehman staff Fuld held in April, contrast with Fuld’s public remarks on the collapse.
The former Lehman boss has been painted as a villain by many, but he has frequently blamed then-Treasury secretary Henry Paulson for not stepping in to save the bank.
Fuld, who is still being questioned about the collapse, has now opened a financial advisory firm in New York, called Matrix Advisors.
Meanwhile administrators of the bank’s UKarm tell its former clients it may take another year before they get any money back.
A High Court ruling last month blocked an attempt to release funds for the creditors.