-
Investors
SIPC steps in when a brokerage firm fails financially, and assets are missing from customer accounts.
SIPC protects customer assets when a SIPC-member brokerage firm fails financially.
Understand how SIPC protection works if you have multiple accounts.SIPC has recovered billions of dollars for investors. Our job is to recover missing cash or securities if your brokerage firm has gone out of business. SIPC does not protect digital asset securities that are investment contracts that are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, even if held by a SIPC member brokerage firm.
SIPC has issued Investor Bulletins explaining SIPC’s protection and claims process. Click here for Part I ("SIPC Basics"). Click here for Part II ("Filing a SIPC Claim").
WASHINGTON, D.C. - September 20, 2008 – The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which maintains a special reserve fund authorized by Congress to help investors at failed brokerage firms, issued the following statement today in relation to Lehman Brothers Inc. (LBI), a SIPC member.
SIPC President Stephen Harbeck said: “I am pleased to be able to report this morning that SIPC’s timely intervention under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) to initiate an action placing LBI in liquidation yesterday has reached a successful conclusion. The result is a situation where 630,000 Lehman Brothers Inc. customers should have full access to their accounts in very short order. We have striven to be innovative and flexible in working with all parties to achieve what will be the fastest-ever restoration of customer accounts in the history of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.
The District Court in New York acted on the SIPC liquidation filing Friday. The matter then proceeded immediately to Bankruptcy Court in a marathon session running from 4 p.m. yesterday to 1 a.m. today. Under the resulting asset purchase agreement, Barclays Capital Inc. (BCI) will acquire many of the business assets of LBI. Customer accounts will be transferred either to BCI or a separate trading platform. In both situations, customers are expected to have access to their accounts as promptly as is practicable.
I want to recognize the outstanding and tireless efforts of the staff of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Reserve and the trustee throughout this process.
Over the course of the last week, SIPC has once again demonstrated its unwavering commitment to its mission in service of American investors.”