Swimming with Sharks: My Journey into the World of the Bankers

by Joris Luyendijk

This is an Evening Standard Book of the Year 2015. Joris Luyendijk, an investigative journalist, knew as much about banking as the average person: almost nothing. Bankers, he thought, were ruthless, competitive, bonus-obsessed sharks, irrelevant to his life. And then he was assigned to investigate the financial sector. Joris immersed himself in the City for a few years, speaking to over 200 people - from the competitive investment bankers and elite hedge-fund managers to downtrodden back-office staff, reviled HR managers and those made redundant in the regular 'culls'. Breaking the strictly imposed code of secrecy and silence, these insiders talked to Joris about what they actually do all day, how they see themselves and what makes them tick. They opened up about the toxic hiring and firing culture. They confessed to being overwhelmed by technological and mathematical opacity. They admitted that when Lehman Brothers went down in 2008 they hoarded food, put their money in gold and prepared to evacuate their children to the countryside. They agreed that nothing has changed since the crash. Joris had a chilling realisation. What if the bankers themselves aren't the real enemy?
What if the truth about global finance is more sinister than that?

• ISBN13: 9781783350643
• Publish Date: 17 September 2015 (first published 15 September 2015)
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Out of Print: 25 June 2016
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Guardian Faber Publishing
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[remo]

Un periodista que quiere entender de qué fue en realidad el crash de 2008 se dedica a hacer entrevistas (anónimas en su mayor parte, porque en banca si hablas estás fuera) a doscientos trabajadores del sector financiero de la City londinense. Poco a poco, pincelada a pincelada, entrevista a entrevista, el autor va pintando el cuadro de las finanzas globales. El autor termina el libro con unas cuantas recomendaciones imposibles (que los bancos no hagan productos con riesgo excesivo, por ejemplo, como si fuera posible poner una cota a lo excesivo de un riesgo) y en general termina con sensaciones entre el aturdimiento, la ira y el pánico. Sin llegar a compartir esos sentimientos, sí estoy de acuerdo con el autor en más del 90% de los diagnósticos y las opiniones a las que va llegando, desde mi punto de vista de un insider de la industria. Muy recomendable. Instructivo y claro.