Tower of Basel

Author: Adam LeBor
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1610392558
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Book Description
Tower of Basel is the first investigative history of the world's most secretive global financial institution. Based on extensive archival research in Switzerland, Britain, and the United States, and in-depth interviews with key decision-makers -- including Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve; Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England; and former senior Bank for International Settlements managers and officials -- Tower of Basel tells the inside story of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS): the central bankers' own bank. Created by the governors of the Bank of England and the Reichsbank in 1930, and protected by an international treaty, the BIS and its assets are legally beyond the reach of any government or jurisdiction. The bank is untouchable. Swiss authorities have no jurisdiction over the bank or its premises. The BIS has just 140 customers but made tax-free profits of 1.17 billion in 2011-2012. Since its creation, the bank has been at the heart of global events but has often gone unnoticed. Under Thomas McKittrick, the bank's American president from 1940-1946, the BIS was open for business throughout the Second World War. The BIS accepted looted Nazi gold, conducted foreign exchange deals for the Reichsbank, and was used by both the Allies and the Axis powers as a secret contact point to keep the channels of international finance open. After 1945 the BIS -- still behind the scenes -- for decades provided the necessary technical and administrative support for the trans-European currency project, from the first attempts to harmonize exchange rates in the late 1940s to the launch of the Euro in 2002. It now stands at the center of efforts to build a new global financial and regulatory architecture, once again proving that it has the power to shape the financial rules of our world. Yet despite its pivotal role in the financial and political history of the last century and during the economic current crisis, the BIS has remained largely unknown -- until now.

The Seven Sins of Wall Street

Author: Bob Ivry
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 161039366X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
We all know that the financial crisis of 2008 came dangerously close to pushing the United States and the world into a depression rivaling that of the 1930s. But what is astonishing -- and should make us not just afraid but very afraid -- are the shenanigans of the biggest banks since the crisis. Bob Ivry passionately, eloquently, and convincingly details the operatic ineptitude of America's best-compensated executives and the ways the government kowtows to what it mistakenly imagines is their competence and success. Ivry shows that the only thing that has changed since the meltdown is how too-big-to-fail banks and their fellow travelers in Washington have nudged us ever closer to an even bigger economic calamity. Informed by deep reporting from New York, Washington, and the heartland, The Seven Sins of Wall Street, like no other book, shows how we're all affected by the financial industry's inhumanity. The transgressions of "Wall Street titans" and "masters of the universe" are paid for by real people. In fierce, plain English, Ivry indicts a financial industry that continues to work for the few at the expense of the rest of us. Problems that financiers deemed too complicated to be understood by ordinary folks are shown by Ivry to be financial legerdemain -- a smokescreen of complexity and jargon that hide the bankers' nefarious activities. The Seven Sins of Wall Street is irreverent and timely, an infuriating black comedy. The Great Depression of the 1930s moved the American political system to real reform that kept the finance industry in check. With millions so deeply affected since the crisis of 2008, you'll finish this book asking yourself how it is that so many of the nation's leading financial institutions remain such exasperating problem children.

St. Moritz Chic

Author: Dora Lardelli
Publisher: Assouline Publishing
ISBN: 1614288534
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 5

Book Description
Nestled in Switzerland’s alpine Engadin Valley, St. Moritz stands on its own amidst a sea of celebrated ski resorts in that it has long maintained an elusive allure. The winter home of personalities from Gunter Sachs and Gianni Agnelli to Sofia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, John Lennon, and Claudia Schiffer, there are few places in the world that manage to unite so many of the top names in cinema, art, and fashion all in one place, year after year. Author Dora Lardelli takes the reader on a journey through Chanel and Hitchcock’s favorite haunts and the hidden parties at Badrutt’s Palace where royalty goes to play, without forgetting the natural beauty, village charm and architectural mastery that define it. St. Moritz also takes readers on a majestic tour of its special events, from Winter Olympics to the annual Snow Polo World Cup, as well as the summertime Jazz Festival and the British Classic Car Meeting. In St. Moritz creatives and royals share skiwassers slope-side on the sheepskin benches of El Paradiso, pause to sip champagne on long strolls around its frozen, crystalline lake and enjoy coffee and confections at the centuries old Hanselmann. St. Moritz has never lost its inimitable appeal, and will continue to reign as an elegant hideaway for all those who have come to call it a home away from home.

Lords of Finance

Author: Liaquat Ahamed
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781594201820
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 584

Book Description
Argues that the stock market crash of 1929 and subsequent Depression occurred as a result of poor decisions on the part of four central bankers who jointly attempted to reconstruct international finance by reinstating the gold standard.

Lucifer's Banker Uncensored

Author: Bradley C. Birkenfeld
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1645720233
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 419

Book Description
A page-turning real-life thriller, Lucifer's Banker Uncensored is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the secret Swiss high-net worth banking industry and a harrowing account of our government's justice system. Updated and Uncensored! As a private banker working for the largest bank in the world, UBS, Bradley Birkenfeld was an expert in Switzerland's shell-game of offshore companies and secret numbered accounts. He wined and dined ultrawealthy clients whose millions of dollars were hidden away from business partners, spouses, and tax authorities. As his client list grew, Birkenfeld lived a life of money, fast cars, and beautiful women, but when he discovered that UBS was planning to betray him, he blew the whistle to the US Government. The Department of Justice scorned Birkenfeld's unprecedented whistle-blowing and attempted to silence him with a conspiracy charge. Yet Birkenfeld would not be intimidated. He took his secrets to the US Senate, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service, where he prevailed. His bombshell revelations helped the US Treasury recover over $15 billion (and counting) in back taxes, fines, and penalties from American tax cheats. But Birkenfeld was shocked to discover that at the same time he was cooperating with the US Government, the Department of Justice was still doggedly pursuing him. He was arrested and served thirty months in federal prison. When he emerged, the Internal Revenue Service gave him a whistle-blower award for $104 million, the largest such reward in history. A page-turning real-life thriller, Lucifer's Banker Uncensored is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the secret Swiss high-net worth banking industry and a harrowing account of our government's justice system. Readers will follow Birkenfeld and share his outrage with the incompetence and possible corruption at the Department of Justice, and they will cheer him on as he ''hammers'' one of the most well-known and powerful banks in the world.

The American Trap

Author: Frédéric Pierucci
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1529326885
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
In 2014, France lost part of the control of its nuclear power plants to the United States. Frédéric Pierucci, former senior executive of one of Alstom's power company subsidiaries, found himself at the heart of this state scandal. His story goes to the very core of how he plotted the key features of the secret economic war that the United States is waging in Europe. And after being silenced for a long time, he has decided, with the help of journalist Matthieu Aron, to reveal all. In April 2013, Frédéric Pierucci was arrested in New York by the FBI and accused of bribery. The US authorities imprisoned him for more than two years - including fourteen months in a notorious maximum-security prison. In doing so, they forced Alstom to pay the biggest financial penalty ever imposed by the United States. In the end, Alstom also gave up areas of control to General Electric, its biggest American competitor. Frédéric's story unpacks how the United States is using corporate law as an economic weapon against its own allies. One after the other, some of the world's largest companies are being actively destabilised to the benefit of the US, in acts of economic sabotage that seem to be the beginning of what's to come...

Miami Beach

Author: Horacio Silva
Publisher: Assouline Publishing
ISBN: 1614289522
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 6

Book Description
Considered by many as the country’s most dynamic, fastest growing and sexiest city, Miami is more popular than ever before. Yet, it is a city that doesn’t merely change but evolves, never rewriting the past, just adding to its illustrious heritage. And this is the real beauty of Miami. The chic Surf Club and the vibrant Faena Hotel did not replace the emblematic Raleigh of the 1940s nor the Ritz Carlton of the 50s, rather they complement them. Classics like Joe’s Stone Crab continue to serve their signature fare to sell-out crowds each night, as new establishments attract with name chefs. The iconic art deco architecture remains on full display as the modern Herzog & de Meuron-designed Perez Art Museum stands in stark contrast. Replete with arts and culture year round from the international art at The Bass to the street art of Wynwood Walls, each December, the city is taken over by the global cultural elite for Art Basel Miami Beach, a fair that attracts over 80,000 visitors who turn out for the momentous art, such as Maurizio Cattelan’s show stopping “Comedian”, and the exuberant festivities hosted each evening.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision

Author: Charles Goodhart
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139499386
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 619

Book Description
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) sets the guidelines for world-wide regulation of banks. It is the forum for agreeing international regulation on the conduct of banking. Based on special access to the archives of the BCBS and interviews with many of its key players, this book tells the story of the early years of the Committee from its foundation in 1974/5 right through until 1997 - the year that marks the watershed between the Basel I Accord on Capital Adequacy and the start of work on Basel II. In addition, the book covers the Concordat, the Market Risk Amendment, the Core Principles of Banking and all other facets of the work of the BCBS. While the book is primarily a record of the history of the BCBS, it also provides an assessment of its actions and efficacy. It is a major contribution to the historical record on banking supervision.

Territory

Author: ETH Studio Basel, Contemporary City Institute
Publisher: Park Publishing (WI)
ISBN: 9783038600237
Category : Cities and towns
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Between 2008 and 2014, ETH Studio Basel, under the guidance of Roger Diener and Marcel Meili, has been investigating the process of urbanisation taking place outside cities. Territory - in the context of this investigation denotes both: the surroundings that a city subsumes into its own structure and the core city itself, which is the centre of this process of urbanisation, or "confiscation". Investigated were six regions on six continents: The Nile Valley with the dense corset of natural landscape surrounding a linear city; Rome-Adria, where territorial cells have formed within the territory, spawning an urban type of tremendous dynamism; Florida, presenting highly complex patterns of territorial organisation; Vietnam's Red River Delta, where recent reform exposed traditional settlement and cultivation of the delta to freer forces; Oman, where urbanisation of a territory essentially means reclaiming the desert with the immediate necessity to develop a system for water distribution; and Belo Horizonte, where natural conditions likewise play a major role in organising the territory as surface mining entails huge transformations of the natural terrain. The new book features two introductory essays on ETH Studio Basel's research approach and on terminology, concise illustrated reports on the six regions, and four concluding topical essays.

The Occupy Handbook

Author: Janet Byrne
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316220205
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 387

Book Description
Analyzing the movement's deep-seated origins in questions that the country has sought too long to ignore, some of the greatest economic minds and most incisive cultural commentators - from Paul Krugman, Robin Wells, Michael Lewis, Robert Reich, Amy Goodman, Barbara Ehrenreich, Gillian Tett, Scott Turow, Bethany McLean, Brandon Adams, and Tyler Cowen to prominent labor leaders and young, cutting-edge economists and financial writers whose work is not yet widely known - capture the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon in all its ragged glory, giving readers an on-the-scene feel for the movement as it unfolds while exploring the heady growth of the protests, considering the lasting changes wrought, and recommending reform. A guide to the occupation, The Occupy Handbook is a talked-about source for understanding why 1% of the people in America take almost a quarter of the nation's income and the long-term effects of a protest movement that even the objects of its attack can find little fault with.