British bank Barclays said on Monday that it had walked away from a merger deal aimed at saving US investment group Lehman Brothers.
  
"We confirm that Barclays considered a combination with Lehman Brothers and did not proceed because it was not possible to conclude a transaction in the best interests of Barclays shareholders," the British bank said in a statement.
  
Barclays was reported to have been the front-runner to bail-out the embattled US firm, which earlier Monday filed for bankruptcy.
  
Britain's third largest bank got cold feet over concerns that it would have to guarantee Lehman's trading commitments between now and whenever a deal was struck, a source at the bank had told AFP Sunday on condition of anonymity.
  
Lehman Brothers said it was filing for bankruptcy "in order to protect its assets and maximize value."
  
The financial firm said in a statement that the filing was authorised by its board of directors and would occur at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York later Monday.
  
The beleaguered Wall Street firm, born 158 years ago, recently announced that it had lost an estimated 3.9 billion dollars (2.7 billion euros) in its fiscal third quarter amid fresh writedowns on mortgage assets.