UK still seeing the 'aftershocks' of Lehmans collapse Banks in the UK and US were "within hours" of collapse following the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers five years ago, says former UK chancellor Alistair Darling. He explained on the Today programme the repercussions of the bank's failure: "It set in train a series of events that brought our banks and the American banks within hours of collapse just three weeks later. "That's five years ago and we're still seeing the aftershocks of it," he added.