Tetsuya Ishikawa

This is a vivid and personal account of 21st century banking excess. "How I Caused the Credit Crunch" traces seven years at the forefront of the credit markets - a tale from the heart of the bewildering banking maelstrom whose catastrophic collapse has plunged the world towards the worst recession since the 1930s. Tetsuya Ishikawas story reveals how a young Oxford graduate finds himself in command of vast sums of other peoples money; how a novice to the mysteries of hedge funds, subprime mortgages and CDOs can fix complex deals for billions of dollars in the exclusive bars, brothels and trading floors of London, New York, Frankfurt and Tokyo, and reap the benefits in a colossal annual bonus and an international luxury lifestyle. Ishikawas book, which deftly explains the arcane financial instruments now grimly associated with the credit crunch, is both a powerful tale of lost innocence and an expose of the disturbing truth of the collective folly, frailty and greed at the heart of the banking crisis.

La historia de Tetsuya Ishikawa revela cómo un joven graduado de Oxford, inexperto y sin escrúpulos empieza a trabajar en un banco de inversiones y se encuentra al mando de grandes sumas de dinero de otras personas, rodeado de millonarios que se dedican al champan, al caviar, las mujeres y la cocaina. Las escenas en los lujosos restaurantes de Londres o Manhattan o en los refinados burdeles de Frankfort se suceden, mientras venden o negocian con unos productos financieros toxicos, ocultos en todo un entramado que pocos pueden entender. El libro de Ishikawa, que explica con habilidad los instrumentos financieros, es a la vez una historia sobre la inocencia perdida y una inquietante exposicionsobre la codicia y la fragilidad del sistema bancario.