German Bank KfW Handed Lehman €300 Million Hours Before Bankruptcy

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Germany angered at last-minute loss in Lehman crash

Sep 17, 2008, 8:55 GMT Reports that Germany's federal-government bank KfW handed over 300 million euros (420 million dollars) to Lehman Brothers only hours before the US investment bank failed, a newspaper said Wednesday.

The Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung said KfW passed the money to Lehman as part of a swap arrangement on Monday, the day the US firm declared insolvency. The impending collapse had been world news since the previous day.

The Finance Ministry in Berlin, which controls KfW, said there would be an inquiry to find who was to blame. KfW's in-house auditors would study how it was possible for the payment to have been released.

KfW conceded that it had an exposure of hundreds of millions of euros from the insolvency after the 'improperly released payment,' according to the newspaper. KfW was set up as a reconstruction bank and handles most federal-government investments.