The Spider Network by David Enrich
Listed as an FT book of the month`Anyone with an interest in financial services and in what has gone wrong will find The Spider Network compelling.' - Daniel Finkelstein, The Times`Will snare you in its web of deceit, lies, corruption, manipulation and colourful characters. [a] brilliant investigative expose' - Harlan Coben, bestselling thriller author `A gripping narrative ... impressive reporting and writing chops are on full display ...
reads like a fast-paced John le Carre thriller, and never lets up' - New York Times book review `A feat of reporting, and much of it reads like a novel' - Leigh Gallagher, Washington Post `A model of investigative financial writing... a more satisfying read than THE BIG SHORT by Michael Lewis' - Literary Review `Remarkable', Sunday Times `Jaw-dropping', Financial TimesIn 2006, an oddball group of bankers, traders and brokers from some of the largest financial institutions made a startling realization: Libor-the London interbank offered rate, which determines the interest rates on trillions in loans worldwide-was set daily by a small group of easily manipulated administrators, and that they could reap huge profits by nudging it fractions of a percent to suit their trading portfolios. Tom Hayes, a brilliant but troubled mathematician, became the lynchpin of a wild alliance that included a prickly French trader nicknamed "Gollum"; the broker "Abbo," who liked to publicly strip naked when drinking; a nervous Kazakh chicken farmer known as "Derka Derka"; a broker known as "Village" (short for "Village Idiot") who racked up huge expense account bills; an executive called "Clumpy" because of his patchwork hair loss; and a broker uncreatively nicknamed "Big Nose" who had once been a semi-professional boxer.
This group generated incredible riches -until it all unraveled in spectacularly vicious, backstabbing fashion. With exclusive access to key characters and evidence, The Spider Network is not only a rollicking account of the scam, but also a provocative examination of a financial system that was crooked throughout.
reads like a fast-paced John le Carre thriller, and never lets up' - New York Times book review `A feat of reporting, and much of it reads like a novel' - Leigh Gallagher, Washington Post `A model of investigative financial writing... a more satisfying read than THE BIG SHORT by Michael Lewis' - Literary Review `Remarkable', Sunday Times `Jaw-dropping', Financial TimesIn 2006, an oddball group of bankers, traders and brokers from some of the largest financial institutions made a startling realization: Libor-the London interbank offered rate, which determines the interest rates on trillions in loans worldwide-was set daily by a small group of easily manipulated administrators, and that they could reap huge profits by nudging it fractions of a percent to suit their trading portfolios. Tom Hayes, a brilliant but troubled mathematician, became the lynchpin of a wild alliance that included a prickly French trader nicknamed "Gollum"; the broker "Abbo," who liked to publicly strip naked when drinking; a nervous Kazakh chicken farmer known as "Derka Derka"; a broker known as "Village" (short for "Village Idiot") who racked up huge expense account bills; an executive called "Clumpy" because of his patchwork hair loss; and a broker uncreatively nicknamed "Big Nose" who had once been a semi-professional boxer.
This group generated incredible riches -until it all unraveled in spectacularly vicious, backstabbing fashion. With exclusive access to key characters and evidence, The Spider Network is not only a rollicking account of the scam, but also a provocative examination of a financial system that was crooked throughout.