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Last September, federal regulators faced their greatest challenge yet in finding solutions to the intensifying global financial crisis that began almost two years ago and virtually overnight ignited a financial panic. * Over the weekend of Sept. 13-14, regulators worked feverishly to rescue Wall Street giants Merrill Lynch & Co. and Lehman Brothers, both based in New York, to avoid Monday morning financial market fallout. They also searched for a way to rescue the world's largest insurance company, New York-based American International Group Inc. (AIG), which grappled with a severe cash crunch that was pushing it toward imminent bankruptcy. * When the dust had settled Sunday night, federal regulators had arranged for Bank of America, Charlotte, North Carolina, to acquire Merrill Lynch...
