Nearly half of you voted that Lehman Brothers made the most shocking banking headlines [1] this year, and I agree that the 158-year-old firm filing for bankruptcy [2] was the news that really took me off guard in 2008. Lehman's failure is the biggest bankruptcy filing in US history, and the collapse of such a large and well-respected institution made everyone uneasy.

Some investors believe that we've seen the worst of the financial industry's problems, but the majority of you are skeptical [3]. Here's hoping that 2009 will be a better year for banks.

Source [4]