August 22, 2007: Lehman Brothers announces plans to close its sub-prime mortgage business, cutting 1,200 jobs.

September 20: Chris O’Meara, chief financial officer at Lehman, steps down to head global risk management division. Erin Callan, head of the investment banking practice for hedge funds, succeeds him.

December 13: Reports fourth-quarter profit of $870 million and full-year earnings of $4.2 billion (£2.35 billion).

January 17, 2008: Lehman says it will stop originating mortgages through wholesale channels amid continued weakness in the housing and real estate markets.

March 16: US Government and JPMorgan Chase bail out Bear Stearns, a rival US investment bank. Analysts question whether other investment banks might also collapse.

March 17: Reports suggest DBS Group, a South-East Asian bank, instructed its traders to stop working with Lehman, though those instructions were later overturned

April 1: Raises $4 billion in capital.

April 15: Speaking at the investment bank’s annual meeting, Richard Fuld, chairman and chief executive, tells investors that the worst of the credit crisis is behind Wall Street but that the environment “will remain challenging.”

May 16: Announces it is cutting 1,400 jobs, or about 5 per cent of its workforce.

June 9: Estimates it lost about $3 billion on the second quarter and is raising $6 billion in fresh capital.

June 12: Removes Ms Callan as chief financial officer and Joseph Gregory as chief operating officer. Herbert McDade replaces Mr Gregory and Ian Lowitt replaces Ms Callan.

September 2: Reports indicate state-owned Korea Development Bank (KDB) was considering buying a 25 per cent stake in Lehman.

September 8-9: Shares of Lehman plunge 52 per cent amid worries the investment bank was struggling to find new investors and raise capital. Reports say the talks with KDB have ended.

September 10: Lehman reports third-quarter loss of $3.9 billion and plans moves to shore up its balance sheet. The announcement, a day after Lehman shares lost 45 per cent, is an attempt to calm market worries. Mr Fuld says the bank will consider all “strategic alternatives.”

September 11: Lehman shares fall another 42 per cent as investors reject the plan, forcing Lehman executives to scour Wall Street for a financial lifeline.

September 12: Wall Street executives and top US financial officials convene at the New York Fed late on Friday night to discuss how resolve Lehman’s situation before it shakes investor confidence in the US banking system.

September 13: The group reconvenes at the New York Fed as foreign finance ministers urge a solution before Asian markets open.

September 13-14: Talks with a Bank of America-led consortium and Barclays to buy Lehman fail and the bank hires bankruptcy specialists.

September 15: Lehman files for bankruptcy.

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