THE BANK THAT LIVED A LITTLE

Opis produktu

Philip Augar a former banker with a doctorate in history is the author of several previous books including the celebrated The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism (Allen Lane 2000). He has held numerous public and private sector directorships and is currently chair of the UK governments review of higher education. He contributes regularly to the Financial Times and the BBC.He tells the financial story of our ageA brilliantly readable account based on exceptional access to most of those involved of the transformation of the old Quaker bank into a hardcharging capitalist adventurer. ... Philip Augars book is both a thriller and a reminder that business is fascinating because all human life is there.A riveting and revealing account of how a bank of high moral character with Quaker origins ended up in the sewer thanks to ambition and greed.Once you start reading Philip Augars wellresearched book you are captivated. ... What makes The Bank That Lived a Little a mustread is the way in which in its pages Barclays comes to embody all that has been and possibly still is wrong with the entire banking sector.A brilliantly readable account based on exceptional access of the transformation of the old Quaker bank into a hardcharging capitalist adventurer ... both a thriller and a reminder that business is fascinating because all human life is there John Plender Financial TimesBased on unparalleled access to those involved and told with compelling pace and drama The Bank that Lived a Little describes three decades of boardroom intrigue at one of Britains biggest financial institutions. In a tale of feuds grandiose dreams and a struggle for supremacy between rival strategies and their adherents Philip Augar gives a riveting account of Barclays journey from an old Quaker bank to a fullthrottle capitalist machine. The disagreement between those ambitious for Barclays to join the top table of global banks and those preferring a smaller domestic role more in keeping with the banks traditions cost three chief executives their jobs and continues to divide opinion within Barclays the City and beyond.This is an extraordinary corporate thriller which among much else describes how Barclays came to buy Lehman Brothers for a bargain price in 2008 why it was so keen to avoid taking government funding during the financial crisis and the price shareholders have paid for a decade of barely controlled ambition. But Augar also shows how Barclays experiences are a paradigm for Britains social and economic life over thirty years which saw the City move from the edge of the economy to its very centre. These decades created unprecedented prosperity for a tiny number and made the reputations of governments and individuals but then left many of them in tatters.The leveraged society the winnertakesall mentality and our present era of austerity can all be traced to the influence of banks such as Barclays. Augars book tells

Data Publikacji: 2019-09-05
Wymiary: 198 mm 129 mm 26 mm 349 gr