TIMELINE: Financial chaos shakes markets

(Reuters) - Here is a timeline of a month of global market chaos which has claimed some of the world's best known financial institutions as victims.

September 14/15 - Investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc files for bankruptcy protection; Merrill Lynch & Co Inc to be taken over by Bank of America Corp.

September 16 - Federal Reserve announces plan for $85 billion loan to American International Group Inc in return for 80 percent stake in the insurer; Britain's Barclays buys parts of Lehman's North American assets for $1.75 billion.

September 17 - British bank Lloyds TSB Group Plc agrees to rescue rival HBOS Plc, scooping up Britain's biggest home loan lender in an all-share deal.

September 18 - The UK Financial Services Authority imposes a temporary ban on short-selling financial stocks, a move echoed in other centers.

September 19 - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls for the government to spend billions of dollars to take toxic mortgage assets off financial companies to restore financial stability. News of the plan helps world stock markets soar.

September 20 - Details emerge of the $700 billion U.S. plan.

September 21 - Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley become bank holding companies regulated by the Fed.

September 22 - Nomura Holdings Inc says it will buy Lehman's franchise in Asia Pacific and acquires Lehman's business in Europe. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial agrees to buy up to 20 percent of Morgan Stanley for $8.5 billion.

September 23 - AIG signs definitive agreement for up to $85 billion in borrowings from the Fed, the main part of a rescue plan that will see it take a 79.9 percent stake in the insurer.

September 24 - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc says it will buy up to 9 percent of Goldman, which also announced plans to sell $2.5 billion in common stock.

-- The FBI says it is expanding its probe of possible corporate fraud related to the U.S. mortgage market collapse. The probe will include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which were effectively nationalized on July 13.

September 25 - Washington Mutual is closed by the U.S. government in the largest failure of a U.S. bank. Its banking assets are sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.9 billion.

September 29 - Britain announces the nationalization of mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley Plc. Spain's Banco Santander SA will buy its retail deposits and branch network. Banking and insurance company Fortis NV is bailed out by Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments.

-- U.S. House of Representatives rejects the $700 billion rescue plan.

September 30 - World stocks fall but fears of a major meltdown ease as European losses are muted.

-- EU regulators endorse a 6.4 billion euro public bailout of Dexia SA, the Belgian-French financial services group.

October 1 - U.S. Senate passes the bailout plan.

October 2 - Irish lawmakers vote to enact radical legislation guaranteeing Irish bank deposits and debts up to a total of 400 billion euros ($554 billion).

October 3 - The U.S. House of Representatives passes a revised bailout plan.

-- Wells Fargo & Co says it has agreed to buy Wachovia Corp

for about $16 billion, thwarting a planned Citigroup Inc deal announced on September 29. However Citigroup wins a court order on October 4 blocking the deal until the court rules otherwise. The two remain locked in an intense battle.

-- The Dutch government buys Fortis for 16.8 billion euros ($23.28 billion). Belgium and Luxembourg scramble the next day to find a buyer for the remainder of the company.

October 4 - European leaders, meeting in Paris, commit to ensure the stability of banking and financial systems.

October 5 - Germany pledges to guarantee private deposit accounts. Germany also clinches a revised rescue deal for lender Hypo Real Estate after banks and insurers pulled out of a state-led 35 billion euro ($48.5 billion) rescue program.

October 6 - France's BNP Paribas scoop up the assets of Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg for 14.5 billion euros ($19.71 billion) to stem a cash drain on Fortis and Dexia.

October 7 - Iceland, facing down a threat of "national bankruptcy," takes over Landsbanki, its second-largest bank and props up its battered currency.

-- Iceland seeks loan from Russia which unveils an aid package for its own banks.

October 8 - The U.S. Fed leads a coordinated, global round of emergency interest rate cuts. China, the European Central Bank (ECB) and central banks in Britain, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland also cut rates.

-- Britain offers to pump at least 50 billion pounds ($87.2 billion) into its biggest retail banks to help them survive.

(Writing by David Cutler and Gill Murdoch, Editorial Reference Units in London and Beijing; Editing by Quentin Bryar)