Product Description

On 9 August 2007, France's largest bank announced that it had to suspend trading in two huge investment funds it controlled. The same day three German banks revealed that they were close to collapse. A few days later came the first run on a British bank since the 1860s as vast queues of worried investors besieged Northern Rock. Within weeks, the Government were being forced to bail out this previously little known bank to the tune of GBP30 billion, share prices in other mortgage lenders were plummeting, and alarming news about the state of several of the biggest US banks was crossing the Atlantic. What lay behind this series of crippling disasters? In "The Crunch", award-winning journalist Alex Brummer painstakingly traces the course of the crisis from its origins in the US 'subprime' market to its explosion on to the international scene.It's a story of greed, mismanagement and dithering in which bankers seeking to make a quick buck, regulators engaged in turf wars and blame-avoidance, and governmeparalyzedysed by the sheer scale of the problem all conspired to bring the banking system almost to its knees. It's also a story of victims: the 1.5 million people in the US who have already been thrown out of their houses, the entire population of the UK who have been co-opted to guarantee Northern Rock with GBP30 billion of public money, borrowers everywhere who are now finding credit more expensive and harder to get. And, as Alex Brummer convincingly argues, it's not a story that has yet played itself out.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116223 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

City AM
FOUR STARS 'A compelling and clear narrative about the financial crisis and its implications, skilfully providing simple explanations of technical banking concepts without patronising his readers'

Observer, 3 August 2008
`... he brings a journalist's relish to his task of revealing everything you wanted to know about the credit crunch but were too afraid to ask ... vivid ... fascinating ... reads like a thriller'

From the Back Cover
On 9 August 2007 France's largest bank announced that it had had to suspend trading in two huge investment funds that it controlled. The same day three German banks revealed that they were close to collapse. A month later came the first run on a British bank since the 1860s as vast queues of worried investors besieged Northern Rock. Within weeks, the Government were being forced to bail out this previously high-flying bank to the tune of £30 billion, share prices in other mortgage lenders were plummeting, and alarming news about the state of several of the biggest US banks was crossing the Atlantic. What lay behind this series of crippling disasters?

In The Crunch, award-winning journalist Alex Brummer painstakingly traces the course of the crisis from its origins in the US 'sub-prime' market to its explosion on to the international scene. It's a story of greed, mismanagement and dithering in which bankers seeking to make a quick buck, regulators engaged in turf wars and blame-avoidance, and governments paralysed by the sheer scale of the problem all conspired to bring the banking system almost to its knees. It's also a story of victims: the 1.5 million people in the US who have already been thrown out of their houses, the entire population of the UK who have been co-opted to guarantee Northern Rock with billions of pounds of public money, borrowers everywhere who are now finding credit more expensive and harder to get. And, as Alex Brummer convincingly argues, it's not a story that has even begun to play itself out.

Customer Reviews

A Layman`s guide to the credit crunch
If ever anyone wanted to know what the `credit crunch` was all about then look no further than this offering from `The Daily Mail`s`chief economic journalist- alex brummer.
The book explains how, why and who were the main protagonists in this unfolding financial drama.
From the background of Northern Rock`s woes to the exploits of jerome kerviel at societe general, all points are candidly covered in brummer`s typical style of writing.
There is even a glossary of financial jargon, which detail the often mysterious terms used by the professionls, expained in every-day english.
Well worth the money!

Rock Cruncher
Feeling the pinch of the credit crunch? So were Northern Rock, and foolishly, they chose to deal with it by hoarding funds, with disastrous repercussions. Alex Brummer's thorough and engagingly written account blows the whistle on the scandal of the troubled British bank.

This is the book Northern Rock didn't want you to read and Brummer's tight, journalistic style makes this an expose you can't afford to miss.

Excoriating but readable
An often excoriating take on the current plight of the financial services industry, which takes the Northern Rock fiasco as a starting point for an examination of the wider picture.

There is definitely a right-wing slant to what is said, but this book is valuable for its readability and in particular its refusal to lose itself in financial jargon; instead, it makes complicated matters clear to the layman.