Financials · 2008 Anatomy — 2008, the plague year of US Financials
2008 autopsy — Lehman, Bear Stearns, AIG — the plague year on a timeline.
Five top financial institutions disappeared in that single year — Bear, Lehman, Wamu, Wachovia, AIG. Five others survived, and most expanded by absorbing the fallen. This is the true narrative core of this ETF.
What this page answers
Between September 2008 and March 2009, XLF fell -84% — the deepest drawdown in the sector's modern history. Five top financial institutions were extinguished by the crisis: Bear Stearns was absorbed by JPMorgan, Lehman filed for bankruptcy, Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC and sold to JPM, Wachovia was acquired by Wells Fargo, and AIG was rescued by the federal government with shareholders essentially wiped out. Five others survived — and most expanded by absorbing the fallen. Structural changes followed: Dodd-Frank (2010) forced deleveraging and stripped out prop trading, Basel III pushed CET1 minimums above 8%, and three of the top-five investment banks — Bear, Lehman, Merrill — were gone. Today's XLF is not 2007's XLF.
Five top financial institutions disappeared in that single year — Bear, Lehman, Wamu, Wachovia, AIG. Five others survived, and most expanded by absorbing the fallen. This is the true narrative core of this ETF. The data is refreshed by the History of Market pipeline and published as a stable JSON endpoint for research, citation, and AI-agent use.
The plate
Latest Snapshot
- Updated
- 2026-08-14
The 2008 cohort: five vanished, five survived
| Ticker | Company | Peak | Trough | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSC | Bear Stearns | $169.05 (2007-01-12) | $4.81 (2008-03-17) | Acquired by JPM (Mar 2008) |
| LEH | Lehman Brothers | $82.05 (2007-02-01) | $0.21 (2008-09-17) | Chapter 11 (Sep 2008) |
| WM | Washington Mutual | $45.87 (2007-02-26) | $0.01 (2008-09-26) | Seized by FDIC (Sep 2008) |
| WB | Wachovia | $58.80 (2007-02-06) | $1.83 (2008-09-29) | Acquired by WFC (Oct 2008) |
| AIG | AIG | $1,457.40 (2007-09-04) | $6.60 (2009-03-09) | Federal rescue (Sep 2008) |
| JPM | JPMorgan Chase | $53.25 (2007-05-25) | $15.93 (2009-03-09) | Survivor + acquirer |
| GS | Goldman Sachs | $247.92 (2007-10-31) | $47.41 (2008-11-20) | Survived (became BHC) |
| MS | Morgan Stanley | $89.96 (2007-06-15) | $6.71 (2008-11-20) | Survived (became BHC) |
| BAC | Bank of America | $55.08 (2006-11-20) | $3.14 (2009-03-06) | Survived (heavy TARP) |
| WFC | Wells Fargo | $37.99 (2007-09-04) | $7.80 (2009-03-05) | Survived (acquired Wachovia) |
Showing the full record (10 rows). Raw series: https://historyofmarket.com/api/fin/crisis-2008.json
Data & Source
GET /api/fin/crisis-2008.json — Canonical dataset endpoint.
Exchange closing prices · Company filings · Robert Shiller · FRED · NBER.
FAQ
Which major financial institutions disappeared in 2008?
Bear Stearns (absorbed by JPMorgan), Lehman Brothers (bankrupt), Washington Mutual (seized, sold to JPMorgan), Wachovia (acquired by Wells Fargo), and AIG (federal rescue that diluted shareholders by over 90%).
Where does this data come from?
History of Market combines public market and macro datasets — exchange closing prices, company filings, Robert Shiller, FRED, NBER, and the UBS Global Investment Returns Yearbook (Dimson–Marsh–Staunton). The exact endpoint for this panel is linked below.
How often is it updated?
Daily-tier datasets refresh after the U.S. market close, with a broader weekly refresh on Sunday. The timestamp shown on this page comes from the JSON payload.
Can I use the data?
Yes, for research and education with attribution to History of Market. Upstream data sources retain their own terms.