The Center for Public Integrity

Today marks a year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. As President Obama delivers a major speech on Wall Street saying he is determined to prevent a repeat of the crisis that nearly brought down the global financial system, the Center looks back at its year of covering the meltdown.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has finally moved into a permanent home after eight months in Washington, leaving behind some lingering questions about the rent-free arrangement he enjoyed with a college friend who was a former Wall Street executive and now a top official at a major international lender.

Firms that fed off the subprime lending frenzy that devastated the banking system are lining up to collect more than $21 billion in taxpayer funds meant to help bail out borrowers now in trouble on their loans.

Is Bank of America, the nation’s largest bank, tracking how it spends $45 billion in taxpayer funds? That depends on which Bank of America statement you believe.

A settlement providing the Internal Revenue Service access to the identities of Americans holding secret accounts at Swiss bank UBS is being viewed as a significant victory in the battle against bank secrecy.

In the years before the current economic collapse, it seemed as though everyone was getting in on the subprime mortgage frenzy. Usually, it wasn’t difficult. In many states, individuals selling mortgage loans did not need to obtain licenses or meet any special training requirements. Once hired by a mortgage company, they were free to write loans for a commission. But now, the federal Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) for Mortgage Licensing Act, part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008, is beefing up the rules.

Good financial news out of California is rare these days, but one key crime-fighting agency has emerged from the state's recent budget slashing unscathed: The state crime lab.

When Sallie Mae, the nation's largest provider of student loans, saw the possibility of its own extinction in a plan advanced by the Obama administration, it did what just about any big corporation would do: It hired the best lobbyists money can buy.

Nonbank mortgage lenders would have to file reports of suspected fraud for the first time, under a new proposal issued Wednesday by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, an arm of the Treasury Department.

Troubled lender CIT Group found itself on the brink of bankruptcy Monday, as concerns regarding its liquidity and debt mounted. The company describes itself as “a leading provider of financing to small businesses and middle market companies.” But its current precarious position may be attributable in part to the more than $5.6 billion in subprime loans CIT made between 2005 and 2007.