House of Cards.

William D Cohan

Physical

In Circulation

On the evening of March 16, 2008, Bear Stearns, a swashbuckling eighty-five-year-old institution in the financial world, sold itself for an outrageously low price to the $2 trillion global behemoth JP Morgan Chase. Bear Stearns no longer existed, and the calamitous financial meltdown of 2008 had begun. What went wrong?

In House of Cards bestselling author and former investment banker William Cohan gives the reader a front-row seat at Wall Street's catastrophic unravelling at the seams, and the end of the Second Gilded Age on Wall Street. Through the prism of Bear Stearns, he shows how a combination of risky bets, corporate political infighting, lax government regulations and truly bad decision-making have wrought havoc on the world financial system.

Cohan's minute-by-minute account of those ten days in March makes for breathless reading, as the bankers at Bear Stearns struggled to contain the cascading series of events that would doom the firm, as the US government and federal bank began to realize the dire consequences for the world economy should the company go bankrupt.

But HOUSE OF CARDS does more than recount the incredible panic of the first stages of the financial meltdown. William D. Cohan beautifully demonstrates why the seemingly invincible Wall Street money machine came crashing down. He chronicles the swashbuckling corporate culture of Bear Stearns, the strangely crucial role competitive bridge played in the company's fortunes, the brutal internecine battles for power, and the deadly combination of greed and inattention that helps to explain why the company's leaders ignored the danger lurking in Bear's huge positions in mortgage-backed securities.

Full of insider knowledge and larger-than-life characters, such as Ace Greenberg, Bear Stearns' miserly, take-no-prisoners chairman and his profane, colorful rival Jimmy Cayne, whose world-champion-level bridge skills were a lever in his corporate rise and the firm's demise; and Jamie Dimon, the blunt-talking CEO of JPMorgan Chase, who won in the end, House of Cards is a shocking tale of greed, arrogance and stupidity in the financial world, and the consequences for all of us.

What will you learn from this book

  1. Rise and Fall: The book chronicles the rise of Bear Stearns as a prominent investment bank and its subsequent collapse during the financial crisis.

  2. Risk-Taking Culture: Explores the high-risk culture prevalent in Bear Stearns and on Wall Street, focusing on excessive leverage and risky investments that contributed to the downfall.

  3. Subprime Mortgage Exposure: Details Bear Stearns' significant exposure to subprime mortgage-related securities, which led to immense losses as the housing market collapsed.

  4. Liquidity Crisis: Discusses the liquidity crunch faced by Bear Stearns, leading to a rapid decline in confidence among investors and counterparties.

  5. Government Intervention: Analyzes the role of the Federal Reserve and government intervention in orchestrating Bear Stearns' acquisition by JPMorgan Chase to prevent a systemic financial meltdown.

  6. Management Decisions: Critically examines the decisions made by Bear Stearns' management, including risk management failures and their impact on the bank's collapse.

  7. Market Repercussions: Explores the wider repercussions of Bear Stearns' collapse on financial markets, investor confidence, and the subsequent intensification of the financial crisis.

  8. Regulatory Oversight: Raises questions about the effectiveness of regulatory oversight and the regulatory environment leading up to the financial crisis.

  9. Lessons Learned: Reflects on the lessons learned from the collapse of Bear Stearns, emphasizing the need for improved risk management practices and regulatory reforms.

  10. Impact on Individuals: Discusses the impact of Bear Stearns' collapse on employees, shareholders, and the broader financial community, highlighting personal and financial repercussions.

Language English
ISBN-10 9781846141959
No of pages 468
Font Size Medium
Book Publisher Allen Lane
Published Date 05 Mar 2009

About Author

Author : William D Cohan

2 Books

Related Books