PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday credited “aggressive and innovative” steps for pulling the US economy back from the brink – but he warned against complacency.

In a major economic address coinciding with the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the President said the “storms of the past two years” were beginning to break.

But he attacked part of the financial sector for ignoring the lessons of the last 12 months, accusing them of putting the nation’s future well-being in peril.

“The fact is many of the firms that are now returning to prosperity owe a debt to the American people,” he said.

“It is neither right nor responsible after you’ve recovered with the help of your government to shirk your obligation to the goal of wider recovery, a more stable system and a more broadly shared prosperity.”

Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the early hours of September 15 last year (UK time) in a move seen as a defining moment in financial history. The collapse of one of the world’s largest investment banks created an after-shock so devastating that markets are only now beginning to recover their poise.

In his speech, delivered at Federal Hall, in New York, Mr Obama trumpeted measures he introduced to prevent the US economy slipping even further into recession.

The President said that when he came to power at the beginning of the year the situation was no longer just a financial crisis.

“It had become a full-blown economic crisis,” he said.