Lehman Bros bankruptcy 'could hit 4,000 UK jobs'

As many as 4,000 workers in London's Canary Wharf could lose their jobs in the fallout of Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy.

Over one million people are employed in the banking, finance and insurance sectors, according to data from the Office for National Statistics

Stuart Fraser, chair of Here is the City website's policy and resources committee, commented: "It probably still hasn’t blown itself out yet. It will ripple through the financial world and then through the broader economy."

Last year, financial services accounted for 10.4 per cent of the UK's gross value and the sector has grown by an average of 5.5 per cent a year since 1993, reports the Financial Times.

Howard Archer, Global Insight chief UK and European economist, said the main problem for the market in the UK is that a further tightening of the credit crunch could hurt the housing market and small businesses.

Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest banking firm on Wall Street, filed for bankruptcy yesterday (September 15th).

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