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  • Published: 15 April 2010
  • ISBN: 9781407087153
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272
Categories:

Reckless

The Rise and Fall of the City




The definitive insider's history of Britain's financial services sector over the last decade, by one of our leading City commentators.

In 1997 it seemed that things in the City could only get better. For ten years everything went according to plan. Buoyed by a strong pound and cheered on by an excitable media, the bankers became the heroes of the age. And then in the summer of 2007 everything began to collapse. Barely a year later the City was in tatters.

Greed, guile and excess - this definitive insider's account charts an intoxicated decade and cogently reveals just how, and why, the City got it so badly wrong.

  • Published: 15 April 2010
  • ISBN: 9781407087153
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272
Categories:

About the author

Philip Augar

Philip Augar worked in investment banking for over twenty years. He led NatWest's global equity and bond business before becoming a Group Managing Director at Schroders. Since 2000 he has combined consulting and writing. This is his fifth book. He can be contacted at: www.philipaugar.com

Also by Philip Augar

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Praise for Reckless

[a] compelling and readable history that will enable the reader to make sense of the collapse of confidence that started in 2007 and became the Credit Crunch

www.suite101.com

[Augar] sees the important issue'

John Kay

A colourful account of the financial rollercoaster ride of the last 10 years... What really happened at Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland et al? This gives you a clearer idea

Stefan Stern, Financial Times, Business & economics books of the year

A compelling story of how the City came to be regarded as the jewel in Britain's economic crown... yet was fundamnetally flawed...and became a byword for greed and complacency

Financial Times

A meticulously researched history of the City under New Labour. This is a good and eloquently written book...refreshingly non-judgemental

Literary Review

Augar is a former city man with the rare ability to take the reader through the complexities of high finance.

Nick Cohen, Observer

Augur skewers politicians and regulators deftly. He's good on hedge funds, too.

William Leith, Scotsman

Brilliant

Independent

Clear about the causes, Augar is also clear about the solutions

Evening Standard

Excellent

Jonathan Davis, Financial Times

Niggling away in his opening chapters is a question I believe will produce unforgiving verdicts from future historians: how could a Labour government let this happen?

Nick Cohen, Thefirstpost.com

On the money. The City's staggering fall from grace is neatly summed up by a former investment banker

Sunday Times

Reveals the systemic and destructive way that British finance works... Understands both the people and the processes... His best book yet

Will Hutton, Guardian

This is a useful contribution to the growing literature about the biggest financial crisis for decades

David Smith, The Sunday Times

Timely book

Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday