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The crisis: it wasn’t personal
Book review: Swimming with Sharks: My Journey into the World of the BankersJoris Luyendijk's behind the scenes take on life in the City is worth reading for its unique perspective, says Matthew Partridge.
Since the financial crisis, hundreds of books have been written about the failings of the banks and how the financial sector should be reformed. Most have focused on the big "macro" picture. But investigative journalist Joris Luyendijk took the opposite approach. In order to understand how the City really functions, he interviewed several individual City workers. These anonymous interviews were published on The Guardian's website and now form the basis for Swimming With Sharks.
He covers a wide range of people, from investment bankers and traders to IT staff and regulators. Given that most financial institutions strongly discourage their staff from talking to the media, many of his subjects are people who are unhappy enough to take the risk of talking to him. Dislike for the cut-throat atmosphere and the nature of the work is widespread, but a significant minority are willing to defend their choice of career and the system. This means the book is less one-sided than you might expect, and Luyendijk is forced to consider both sides of the argument.
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One thing that enhances the book's credibility is the lack of 'Wolf of Wall Street'- type antics. In fact, one of the few anecdotes about trading-floor high jinks comes from another memoir. This may disappoint some, but it underlines that while there are problems with the modern financial world, it is arguably more meritocratic and open than the old City. It also reflects that power has shifted from the "lucky monkey" trader with the Midas touch to the "quant" with the advanced science degree.
Unsurprisingly, the author concludes by calling for radical reform of the banking system. However, he is vague about what exactly this would entail. One idea, which runs throughout the entire work, is that banks may simply be too big to function properly.
In some cases this shows itself in conflicts of interest (for example, the pressure put on analysts to tailor their reports to help banks win investment banking business). However, it can also lead to wasteful duplication and a lack of effective oversight the typical bank chief executive is nominally in charge of thousands of executives, many with a high degree of expertise.
Swimming With Sharks lacks the wider perspective and detailed prescriptions of other books about the financial crisis, but its unique perspective makes it worth a read. If you want to hear about the reality behind the headlines, grab a copy. The book "will certainly not change the views of those who see bankers as moral lepers", says Jonathan Ford in the Financial Times.
However, the book's "sombre" message is that "the problem is systemic not personal". As Nicholas Blincoe in The Daily Telegraph notes, "Luyendijk tends towards the prophet-of-doom, but perhaps that is what we need".
Swimming with Sharks: My Journeyinto the World of the Bankers byJoris Luyendijk. Published by Guardian Faber Publishing (£12.99).
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