Industry S3E5 "Company Man" | Why the Next “Lehman” Won’t Come From Banks

Dec 27, 2025

A public inquiry into a £2bn bailout reveals the dangers of institutional self-protection, with lawyers prioritizing firms over employees. Tension rises as a trading-floor risk model uncovers a collapsing IPO pipeline tied to risky ESG investments. Amidst this turmoil, fears of a Lehman-style fallout loom, stemming from Pierpoint's own misguided bets. Political maneuvering and personal tensions add layers to the narrative, while private credit concerns surface, hinting at larger systemic risks beyond traditional banking.

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INSIGHT

Firm Lawyers Defend The Institution First

Internal lawyers protect the firm, not individual employees.
Kristen and Jen stress you should never assume an in-house attorney represents you.

ANECDOTE

Trading-Floor Charity Day Echoes Cantor Fitzgerald

Kristen compares the episode's charity trading-floor scene to Cantor Fitzgerald's 9/11 charity day.
She remembers celebrities manning phones and proceeds going to victims' families.

INSIGHT

IPO Pipeline Collapse Can Trigger A Black Hole

Sweet Pea discovers PeerPoint's IPO pipeline and ESG pivot are collapsing together.
The hosts warn this mismatch could create a massive funding shortfall for the firm.

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A public inquiry into Lumi’s £2bn government bailout exposes Pierpoint’s role in the disastrous IPO, where Robert is sent to testify in front of a UK select committee. The episode lays bare how firms protect themselves in crises: lawyers serve the institution, not employees, and blame is carefully redirected toward anyone expendable enough to absorb the fallout.

The real financial bombshell, however, happens quietly back on the trading floor. Sweetpea's risk model shows that Pierpoint’s entire IPO pipeline is collapsing amid an ESG downturn is actually far worse than anticipated due to prop bets the company took to invest in ESG companies using large tranches of debt that are now coming due. We get into whether this is allowed post–financial crisis (short answer no) BUT the show isn't wrong that this is what people have been worried about in "private credit" now that banks can no longer make these prop bets.

The episode positions Pierpoint as something far more fragile than it appears — an institution facing a potential Lehman-style reckoning not from reckless traders (see the prior episode), but from bad investments made by Pierpoint iteself. “Company Man” may be light on deal mechanics, but it sets the stage for the next episode which is arguably one of our favroites.

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