Book Summary: Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin

DOCUMENTATION - In Progress

First published on September 22, 2009, Too Big To Fail is a phenomenal book by Andrew Ross Sorkin on the events of the Great Financial Crisis of 2007 to 2009. While books like the Big Short (by Michael Lewis) and others provide the perspective more from outside in, or from a trading angle, Too Big To Fail provides a perspective from the eye of the storm (before, during and after the storm hit) - what was happening on the inside - primarily within the regulatory institutions as well as covering some of the financial institutions that were going through the crisis.

For an examination of crashing and collapsing institutions and a financial system that is full on crisis mode, this I’d say, is a go-to book capturing a few key concepts at play:

Development of crisis at financial institutions
Institutional collapse and their impacts
Development of systemic contagion
Development of private-sector solution
Design & politics of bailouts

You may find this book here:

Amazon

Chapter Summary

In the section below I try to capture the high-level summary of the various chapters of the book. Obviously you’ll need to go through the book to have a better grasp of the real-life story that it narrates. Note that the book does not include many dates, but in order to better relate to the chronology of events I try to capture the dates here.

Prologue

Jamie Dimon (CEO of JP Morgan Chase) morning of September 13th, 2008, after the news of the potential collapse of Lehman appeared in the Wall Street Journal
Trillions of dollars are lost
World's maior financial institutions are in crisis
- Companies grew more reliant upon one another and more connected
- Housing bubble and the $2 trillion subprime market collapsed
  - Shook the entire financial system
  - Re-packaged mortgages were now too complex to be accurately priced in a faltering market
  - Bear Stearns was the first to go under

CHAPTER ONE

Mar 13, 2008 (Thu): Dick Fuld (CEO, Lehman Brothers) heads to India
- Fuld heard rumours about trouble with Bear Stearns
Mar 16, 2008 (Sun): Henry Paulson (Treasury Secretary) calls him and says Bear Stearns went under
- Jamie Dimon will buy Bear Stearns for $2 a share
- Realizes Lehman Bros will be next and comes home
Mar 17, 2008 (Mon): Fuld heads from Greenwich, CT to Lehman head office in NYC
- Fuld notices Nikkei drops by more than 3%
- Fuld and Joe Gregory prepares for a tough day
- Fuld watches Lehman shares drop 21% in pre-market, and then goes on to watch news with top Lehman execs and Lehman Bros goes down by 31%
- Fuld meets with longtime friend Susanne Craig (writer for Wall Street Journal)
  - Defence Tactic: Fight back rumours as they appear
  - Joe Gregory & Erin Callan calls hedge funds to plead them to continue to be with Lehman and continue trading
  - In the last hour of trading stock starts an upward trend - recovering from 50% down to only 19% down
Mar 18, 2008 (Tue): Erin Callan (new Lehman CFO) reps company on publicized conference call
- Purposely counters that stocks are going down
- Stockholders are relieved
- Outsiders who know how business works don't think she is telling the truth

CHAPTER TWO

March 24, 2008 (Mon): Henry Paulson hears from Dimon that he is going back on the Bear deal
- Jamie Dimon asks to raise price of the Bear Stearns deal to $10/share
- Paulson is upset because he made secret deal between Bear and JP Morgan
- Congress and media is upset that gov't decided to back Bear debt
- Reference: JPMorgan Raises Bid for Bear Stearns to $10 a Share - NYTimes.com
Background story: Henry Paulson (Secretary of US Treasury)
- 1970: MBA from Harvard Business School
- 1970: Paulson joins Pentagon
- 1972: Paulson works as assistant to John Ehrlichman
- 1974: Paulson joined Goldman Sachs
- Jun, 1998: Hank was nLehman to Boost Funding with $3 Billion Offeringamed co-chairman and co-CEO
- Jan, 1999: Named sole chairman and CEO
- May 30, 2006: Paulson decides to take the Treasury Secretary job
  - Prior to this Paulson had rejected the job two times
  - Predecessor was John Snow
- Reference: Hank Paulson Is Named Chairman and CEO - Goldmansachs.com
Mar 27, 2008 (Thu) 7:00 am: Meeting - Treasury inner circle meeting
- Attendees: Neil Kashkari, Bob Steel
- Decisions:
  - Have investment banks to raise more capital
  - Set up process to have investment banks go through a non-disruptive bankruptcy process
Mar 27, 2008 (Thu) 9:00 am: Paulson calls Fuld to check on how Lehman is actually doing
- Fuld discusses investment by Buffet
- Paulson proposes Fuld to call Warren Buffett to invest
Mar 28, 2008 (Fri): Fuld calls Warren Buffett regarding investment
- Fuld mentioned that Lehman was looking for $3B to $5B
- Buffet raised a potential investment in Preferred shares with 9% dividends - with Warrants at $40
  - $4B investment at 9% will result in $360 million in interest payments
- Buffet examined Lehman 10K filing - finds too many flags
- They disagree on the price of stocks and Fuld decides to not do a deal
- Buffett later feels satisfied as a Lehman scandal about fraud is announced
Mar 30, 2008 (Sun): News out that Lehman hit with $355 M fraud
Mar 31, 2008 (Mon): Lehman raises capital
- Reference: Lehman to Boost Funding with $3 Billion Offering

CHAPTER THREE

April 2, 2008 (Wed): We find that Tim Geithner (president of NY Fed Reserve) had facilitated gov't deal with Dimon
April 3, 2008 (Thu): Geithner and Robert Steele (undersecretary for domestic finance) attend senate hearing
- They dodge questions about gov't involvement
- Defend actions as a necessary evil
- Reference: U.S. Stocks Turn Higher During Bear Hearings - Forbes.com
He was skeptical about Wall Street BEFORE collapse
- People didn't like him
Details of Bear deal revealed
- Dimon got call from Alan Schwartz (CEO of Bear) asking for help
- Needed $30 million to survive
- Couldn't produce money
- Able to grant JP Morgan the loan
  - Geithner pressured Dimon to take over Bear to stabilize market

CHAPTER FOUR

Paulson hints that Fuld should find potential buyers
- Ben Bernanke (chairman of financial reserve) saw signs of collapse in 2007
- Bank in France announced it was withdrawing money from American mortgage
  - First hint of issues
- Other problem was packaged mortgages were being grouped and sold
  - They had unknown origins and sketchy details
  - Disputes on how to price and their worth caused panic
Paulson meets with Bernanke
- Presents a hypothetical plan ("Break the Glass: Bank Recapitalization Plan")
  - Treasury would purchase 500 million from financial institutions to bail out
  - Largest gov't intervention in history
Bob Steel (Lehman Bros) calls Bob Diamond (CEO of Barclays Capital in London) and asks if he would buy Lehman if it gets worse
- He considers offer

CHAPTER FIVE

Jim Cramer (CNBC correspondent) visits Lehman for interview
- Fuld wants to use this to sway view on market
- Cramer empathizes with Fuld over damage caused by short-sellers
May 27, 2008: David Einhorn (hedge fund manager) prepares to speak at conference
- Watched by many on wall street
- Speaks specifically about Lehman and how he doubts what Callan said
- Produces damaging effects (down 5% in stocks)
- Reference: Lehman Battles an Insurgent Investor - NYTimes.com

CHAPTER SIX

Fuld finds that secret plan to sell, has been leaked to WST
- No one is allowed to talk to WST in Lehman
- Scott Friedman (member of Fuld's team) suspects Callan leaked story
- Find she placed a call to WS day before
- They don't fire her, it would be unwise to fire CFO in time like this
Fuld reflects on Korean bank saving them
- Deal unlikely but because stock is falling they need to try everything
- Lehman will have to report its first quarterly loss
- Korean investors are deterred
Skip Mcgee (head of Lehman's investment banking ops) urges Fuld to fire Joe Gregory (Lehman president)
- Fuld refuses even though Lehman is being mismanaged
- Rumors circulate about firing Gregory and Callan
  - They both step down willingly after internal pressure
  - Names Bart McDade as new Lehman president

CHAPTER SEVEN

Greg Fleming (president of Merrill Lynch) gets angry call from Larry Fink (CEO of BlackRock) because he heard John Thain (CEO of Merrill) announced they were selling BlackRock
- Hypothetical scenario if Merrill went under
  - His answer was to examine all assets
Merrill suffers because of less investor confidence
- Problems stem from Stan O'Neal era - who was past CEO
  - He was really into packaged mortgages
  - Saw huge gains right away but dipped as housing market did
June 12, 2008: Thain meets with Michael Bloomberg (NY mayor)
- Asks to buy back his holdings in Merrill to raise capital
- Bloomberg says yes
- Reference: Merrill's Bloomberg stake could fit Bloomberg best - Reuters.com

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jamie Dimon meets with Bob Willumstad (Chairman of Board of AIG)
- The board offered Willumstad the CEO of AIG position
- Dimon says to take it
  - Talks about AIG success story
  - Financial institutions looked to AIG for collateral
  - AIG and Goldman couldn't agree on how much collateral for the packaged mortgages and how much they cost
- He figures AIG might be forced to pay large amounts of money to Euro banks
AIG losses were much larger than anticipated

CHAPTER NINE

Lloyd Blankfein (CEO of Goldman) and other Goldman board members meet in Russia to discuss future
- Main issue is that it used securities as collateral to borrow funds
- Discuss possibility of becoming commercial bank or buy an insurance company
  - AIG possibility? Didn't make a decision one way or another
Jun 29, 2008: Paulson prepares for speech in Russia to international research group on state of financial crisis
- Focus is that gov't can't prevent meltdown
- Paulson also meets with Goldman execs but keeps it a secret because of his past
- Reference: Paulson in Russia to meet with Medvedev and Putin - Reuters.com

CHAPTER TEN

Paulson returns from vacay to find Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (mortgage giants) are in danger
- Fannie Mae was created in 1938 to buy loans from bank
- Freddie Mac was created in 1970 to compete
- Bush lowered capital requirements so they were encouraged to buy more
Rumors that Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) is no longer trading with Lehman drive Lehman's stocks down another 12%
- Fuld calls John Mack (CEO of Morgan Stanley) because he is looking for a lifeline for Lehman
July 11, 2008: Paulson and Bernanke meet with the House Financial Services Committee to discuss Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
- Gov't may need to intervene to save
- Someone leaked conversation to the press
  - Stocks continued to fall
- Reference: Fannie, Freddie roiled by talk of a bailout - NBCNews.com
Fuld reaches out to Greg Curl (top BofA banker)
- Urges to merge investment groups
Jul 15, 2008: Paulson asks the Senate Banking Committee for temporary authority to provide government assistance to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Willumstad meets with Geithner to ask for help
- Geithner says Fed. Reserve has never extended loan to insurance company
President Bush signs into law an act that gives the Treasury temporary authority to assist Fannie and Freddie
- Paulson hires Morgan to be an advisor
Min Euoo Sung (Korean bank investor) meets with Lehman Brothers
- Isn't interested in real estate but is in the rest
- Decides to back out because he is uncomfortable
Morgan tells Paulson that Freddie and Fannie will need $50 billion to survive
Dimon proposes that Willumstad choose JP Morgan to help them with their current issues
- Most of their collateral is in regulated insurance companies
- Can't sell these quickly enough to offset problem
Paulson and Ken Wilson (a senior advisor at the Treasury) inform the CEOs of Fannie and Freddie that they will be taken over by the Federal Housing Finance Agency
- CEOs will be removed from their positions

CHAPTER TWELVE

Sep 10, 2008: Failed deal between Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Lehman is in the headlines
- Reference: For Lehman, A Deal With KDB Appears Dead - Forbes.com
Willumstad speaks with Geithner and requests that AIG be granted the status of a primary dealer
- Allow AIG to take advantage of low emergency rate loans from the government
- If AIG falls, the entire financial system might follow
- Geithner is worried but focuses on Lehman
Goldman Sachs approaches the Treasury with an offer of assistance for Lehman
- Paulson recommends to Fuld and McDade that Lehman open up books to Goldman
- Stephen Black (JP Morgan co-head of investment banking) and Dimon discuss how
- Lehman's failing could impact JP Morgan
Black tells Fuld they can't help him and he should appeal to the Federal Reserve
- Members of Citigroup and JP Morgan meet with Lehman
- Lehman reveals its plan to spin-off its toxic assets and create a "bad bank" while keeping its good assets in a "good bank"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Lehman pre-releases its quarterly earnings and announces its bank "spin-off plan to the public
- No one thinks it's a good idea
- Diamond reconsiders purchasing Lehman
- Morgan Stanley reviews Lehman's numbers and determines that there is no way they can help them
- Geithner urges Fuld to resign from the Board of Directors of the Fed Reserve of NY
- Fuld gives in
Moody’s (credit-rating company) downgrades AIG's credit rating by 1-2 notches
- Delivering a powerful economic blow to the company
- AIG's shares fall by 20%
Gov't bailouts are not on the table
- Decided by Wall Street CEO

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lloyd Blankfein - Speech
Wall Street's top CEOs prepare to meet at the New York Federal Reserve Building for an emergency assembly regarding Lehman
- Fuld not there
BofA stresses that it won't enter into a deal with Lehman unless the gov't is willing to help take on $40 billion of losses
- have trouble evaluating how much Lehman's portfolio is worth
Fleming calls Thain urges him to consider a deal with BofA to save Merrill
- Thain offers to sell 9.9 percent of the company
- Lewis wants whole company
Barclays presents its conditions for taking over Lehman Brothers
- Barclays will take over the "good" bank
- Rest of the bankers on Wall Street will help finance the "bad bank" containing all of Lehman's toxic assets
AIG's problems grow larger
- JP Morgan finds $20 billion more in losses because of a book keeping error

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Geithner announces that Barclays is prepared to move ahead on the deal
- Issue is financing bad bank
- Hector Sants (deputy head) and Callum McCarthy (head of Britain's Financial
- Services Authority) says that Barclays requires a shareholder vote before it can guarantee Lehman's trading obligations
- Paulson calls Alistair Darling (British Chancellor of the Exchequer) to convince him to lift requirement
- Darling is unwilling to move forward unless the U.S. Government is prepared to help absorb some of the risk
  - Private sector is working
- Darling shuts deal down
McDade tells Fuld that no one will save Lehman
Willumstad pursues potential buyers for AIG
- Chris Flowers (prominent investor) and Paul Achleitner (Allianz) agree to join forces to take over AIG if Willumstad steps down
Chris Cox (head of the Securities and Exchange Commission) pressures Lehman's Board of Directors to file for bankruptcy
- Fuld sadly accepts

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Geithner invites executives from JP Morgan, Goldman, and Morgan to a meeting about AIG
- Counter-parties to AIG
  - Economic welfare is randomly tied to AIG's well-being
- If gov't allows AIG to collapse, rest of the financial system could come down with it
- Paulson and Bernanke approach President Bush with their plan for gov't intervention
  - He accepts
  - Board of AIG wants to accept deal
- Willumstad is replaced by Ed Liddy
  - Must fire all the senior management first
Press applauds Paulson's decision not to extend a government loan to Lehman
14 September, 2008: Lehman prepares to file for bankruptcy
- Barclays will still buy good assets at a very low price

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

17 September, 2008: Lehman says Barclays will pay $1.75 billion to buy part of Lehman
- Morgan Stanley will fail if AIG does
- Wachovia might end up buying Morgan
  - Then Rob Kindler (Vice chairman of Morgan) tells Mack to not take it
- Reference: Barclays Reaches $1.75 Billion Deal for a Lehman Unit - NYTimes.com
Paulson realizes that gov't might need to intervene on behalf of AIG
- Treasury also will need to work with Goldman
  - Even though there is a conflict of interest gov't waives the conflict
Major investors begin to pull out of Goldman
- Rumor that JP Morgan is poaching drop outs
- Blankfein (CEO of Goldman) confronts Dimon (CEO of IP) to tell him to stop
Paulson meets with POTUS Bush and ask for $500 billion to buy toxic assets
- Bernanke says they could face Great Depression 2.0
Mack reaches out to Gao Xiqing (China investment) to possibly buy Morgan

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Paulson presents Troubled Asset Relief Program to press (TARP)
- Omits amount of money
Morgan is approached by big Japanese bank
- Same time Chinese propose low deal to Mack
Paulson and Geithner try to failing financial institutions
- Citigroup and Goldman
- Or Wachovia and Goldman
  - But wants gov't assistance and Paulson feels uncomfortable
- Paulson wants Dimon to buy Morgan Stanley
  - Mitsubishi makes a deal with Morgan relieving Dimon
Goldman and Morgan announce they will be bank holding companies
- Denouncing their past business models
- NYT calls it an acknowledgment that their model is too risky

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Blankfein is worried about raising capital for Goldman's new bank holding company
- Warren Buffet agrees to purchase $5 billion worth of preferred shares,
  - Provided that Goldman's top four executives are not allowed to sell more than 10 percent of their shares until 2011
  - Until Buffett decides to sell his share
Paulson tries to get support for TARP
Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC
Geithner asks Citigroup to help absorb some of Wachovia's toxic assets
- FDIC negotiated a deal for it at $1 a share
- Before it's finalized Kovacevich (Wells Fargo) extends an offer to buy Wachovia at $7 a share without gov't assistance
September 29, 2008: TARP doesn't pass
- Paulson decides to redraft
- President Bush finally signs the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, making the $700 billion TARP program a reality
- Reference: Bailout plan rejected - supporters scramble - CNN.com
September 29, 2008: Morgan Stanley receives a hand-delivered $9 billion check from Mitsubishi
- Reference: Morgan Stanley sells stake to MUFG, shares fall - Reuters.com

CHAPTER TWENTY

October, 2008: Paulson calls Wall Street CEOs
- Announces capital injection plan (over $250 billion)
- Equivalent of welfare checks with little room for refusal
- Kovacevich (Wells Fargo) is the only person who protests
  - Geithner says it's not an option

Epilogue

Financial crisis led to questions about the role of government in the nation's private sector
Financial institutions continued to falter
Merrill Lynch had doled out billions of dollars in bonuses to employees before the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger went through
So did AIG which caused public rage
Sorkin agrees that government intervention was necessary, but questions the inconsistency of federal decisions
Hopes that bankers and regulators will learn from this crisis in years to come

Cast of Characters

American International Group (AIG)

Robert B. Willumstad - CEO; former chairman
Steven J. Bensinger, chief financial officer and executive vice president
Joseph J. Cassano, head, London-based AIG Financial Prod-ucts; former chief operating officer
David Herzog, controller
Brian T. Schreiber, senior vice president, strategic planning Martin J. Sullivan, former president and chief executive officer

Bank of America

Kenneth D. Lewis - President, Chairman, & CEO
Gregory L. Curl, director of corporate planning
Brian T. Moynihan, president, global corporate and investment banking
Joe L. Price, chief financial officer

Barclays

Robert E. Diamond Jr. - President (Barclays PLC); CEO (Barclays Capital)
Archibald Cox Jr., chairman, Barclays Americas
Jerry del Missier, president, Barclays Capital
Michael Klein, independent adviser
John S. Varley, chief executive officer

Berkshire Hathaway

Warren E. Buffett - Chairman & CEO
Ajit Jain - President (Re-insurance unit)

BlackRock

Larry Fink - CEO

Blackstone Group

Stephen A. Schwarzman - Chairman, CEO, & Co-founder
Peter G. Peterson, co-founder
John Studzinski, senior managing director

China Investment Corporation

Gao Xiqing, president

Citigroup

Edward "Ned" Kelly, head, global banking for the institutional clients group
Vikram S. Pandit, chief executive
Stephen R. Volk, vice chairman

Evercore Partners

Roger C. Altman, founder and chairman

Fannie Mac

Daniel H. Mudd, president and chief executive officer

Freddie Mac

Richard F. Syron, chief executive officer

Goldman Sachs

Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman and chief executive officer
Gary D. Cohn, co-president and co-chief operating officer
Christopher A. Cole, chairman, investment banking
John F. W. Rogers, secretary to the board
Harvey M. Schwartz, head, global securities division sales
David Solomon, managing director and co-head, investment banking
Byron Trott, vice chairman, investment banking
David A. Viniar, chief financial officer
Jon Winkelried, co-president and co-chief operating officer

Greenlight Capital

David M. Einhorn, chairman and co-founder

J.C. Flowers & Company

J. Christopher Flowers, chairman and founder

JP Morgan Chase

Steven D. Black, co-head, Investment Bank
Douglas J. Braunstein, head, investment banking
Michael J. Cavanagh, chief financial officer
Stephen M. Cutler, general counsel
Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer
Mark Feldman, managing director
John Hogan, chief risk officer
James B. Lee Jr., vice chairman
Timothy Main, head, financial institutions, investment banking
William T. Winters, co-head, Investment Bank
Barry L. Zubrow, chief risk officer

Korea Development Bank

Min Euoo Sung, chief executive officer

Lazard Frères

Gary Parr, deputy chairman

Lehman Brothers

Steven L. Berkenfeld, managing director
Jasjit S. ("Jesse") Bhattal, chief executive officer, Lehman Brothers Asia-Pacific
Erin M. Callan, chief financial officer
Kunho Cho, vice chairman
Gerald A. Donini, global head, equities
Scott J. Freidheim, chief administrative officer
Richard S. Fuld Jr., chief executive officer
Michael Gelband, global head, capital
Andrew Gowers, head, corporate communications
Joseph M. Gregory, president and chief operating officer
Alex Kirk, global head, principal investing
Ian T. Lowitt, chief financial officer and co-chief administrative officer
Herbert H. ("Bart") McDade, president and chief operating officer
Hugh E. ("Skip") McGee, global head, investment banking
Thomas A. Russo, vice chairman and chief legal officer
Mark Shafir, global co-head, mergers and acquisitions
Paolo Tonucci, treasurer
Jeffrey Weiss, head, global financial institutions group
Bradley Whitman, global co-head, financial institutions, mergers and acquisitions
Larry Wieseneck, co-head, global finance

Merrill Lynch

John Finnegan, board member
Gregory J. Fleming, president and chief operating officer
Peter Kelly, lawyer
Peter S. Kraus, executive vice president and member of management committee
Thomas K. Montag, executive vice president and head, global sales and trading
E. Stanley O'Neal, former chairman and chief executive officer
John A. Thain, chairman and chief executive officer

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group

Nobuo Kuroyanagi, president and chief executive officer

Morgan Stanley

Walid A. Chammah, co-president
Kenneth M. deRet, chief risk officer
James P. Gorman, co-president
Colm Kelleher, executive vice president, chief financial officer, and co-head, strategic planning
Robert A. Kindler, vice chairman, investment banking
Jonathan Kindred, president, Morgan Stanley Japan Securities
Gary G. Lynch, chief legal officer
John J. Mack, chairman and chief executive officer
Thomas R. Nides, chief administrative officer and secretary
Ruth Porat, head, financial institutions group
Robert W. Scully, member, office of the chairman
Daniel A. Simkowitz, vice chairman, global capital markets
Paul J. Taubman, head, investment banking

Perella Weinberg Partners

Gary Barancik, partner
Joseph R. Perella, chairman and chief executive officer
Peter A. Weinberg, partner

Wachovia

David M. Carroll, president, capital management
Jane Sherburne, general counsel
Robert K. Steel, president and chief executive

Wells Fargo

Richard Kovacevich, chairman

THE LAWYERS

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Alan Beller, partner
Victor I. Lewkow, partner

Cravath, Swaine & Moore

Robert D. Joffe, partner
Faiza J. Saeed, partner

Davis Polk and Wardwell

Marshall S. Huebner, partner

Simspon Thacher & Bartlett

Richard I. Beattie, chairman
James G. Gamble, partner

Sullivan & Cromwell

Jay Clayton, partner
H. Rodgin Cohen, chairman
Michael M. Wiseman, partner

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Edward D. Herlihy, partner

Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Lori R. Fife, partner, business finance and restructuring
Harvey R. Miller, partner, business finance and restructuring
Thomas A. Roberts, corporate partner

NEW YORK CITY

Michael Bloomberg, mayor

NEW YORK STATE INSURANCE DEPARTMENT

Eric R. Dinallo, superintendent

UNITED KINGDOM

Financial Services Authority

Callum McCarthy, chairman
Hector Sants, chief executive

Government

James Gordon Brown, prime minister
Alistair M. Darling, chancellor of the Exchequer

U.S. GOVERNMENT

Congress

Hillary Clinton, senator (D-New York)
Christopher J. Dodd, senator (D-Connecticut), chairman of the Banking Committee
Barnett "Barney" Frank, representative (D-Massachusetts), chairman of the Committee on Financial Services
Mitch McConnell, senator (R-Kentucky), Republican leader of the Senate
Nancy Pelosi, representative (D-California), Speaker of the House

Department of the Treasury

Michele A. Davis, assistant secretary, public affairs; director, policy planning
Kevin I. Fromer, assistant secretary, legislative affairs
Robert F. Hoyt, general counsel
Dan Jester, adviser to the secretary of the Treasury
Neel Kashkari, assistant secretary, international affairs
David H. McCormick, under secretary, international affairs
David G. Nason, assistant secretary, financial institutions
Jeremiah O. Norton, deputy assistant secretary, financial institutions policy
Henry M. "Hank" Paulson Jr., secretary of the Treasury
Anthony W. Ryan, assistant secretary, financial markets
Matthew Scogin, senior adviser to the under secretary for domestic finance
Steven Shafran, adviser to Mr. Paulson
Robert K. Steel, under secretary, domestic finance
Phillip Swagel, assistant secretary, economic policy
James R. "Jim" Wilkinson, chief of staff
Kendrick R. Wilson III, adviser to the secretary of the Treasury