This is the ultimate insiders tale of how international finance really operates.
This controversial first person account details the ins and outs of global finance. Over 20 years the author has enjoyed privileged access to many of the worlds top players in money. In this book he reveals the schemes and techniques they use to conjure up enormous sums of money, whilst explaining how international finance operates: from how financial products work and what they are, to what financiers and money players actually do.
Table of Contents:
How it All Began
Part One
One way ticket
Chapter 1
From Zurich to disaster
Analyse this Henry Blodgett
The rules of compounding
Gains and losses
Who chooses equities, and why
Chapter 2
Taking risks
Whats risk?
Warren Buffet and the Dalai Lama
IOU
Company specific risk
Luxuries and necessities
Five destroyed brands
Chapter 3
The leap of faith
Risk and return
Safety and danger
Hero and villain - Jérôme Kerviel
Buys and sells
The sad case of Millwall Holdings
Part Two Welcome to the jungle
Chapter 4 Damn clients
The trading floor
Proprietary trading
How an investment bank makes money
Its raining middlemen
Bernie Madoff
Primary and secondary market
Chapter 5
An equitable solution
Shares and bonds contrasted
Income, profit and loss
Earnings per share
Dividend yield
Market capitalisation
P/E ratio
Growth stocks and value stocks
The Google growth story
Front, back and middle
Chapter 6
Promises, promises
What goes up must come down
The time value of money
Inflation, opportunity cost, borrower risk
Discounting
Insider trading
Bonfire of the Vanities and Wall Street
Control
Chapter 7
Very interesting, Mr Bond
Maturity and principals
Bonds and shares compared
Ratings measure risk, usually
What you need to know about rating agencies
Safety and Control
From triple A to single, solitary D
Chapter 8
Chinese walls come tumbling down
Deal toys
George Soros
Income and profit
Front running
Private equity
Every Mistake Imaginable
Sting stung
EBIT doh!
Music and finance
Behind the wall
The burnt out agent
About the Author :
Andreas Loizou is an expert in financial training. He has over twenty years of experience in the global financial markets.
Andreas has trained staff at major banks and government departments across the world. His client list includes Credit Suisse First Boston, IBM, Lloyds, Reuters, Deutsche Bank, The Financial Services Authority and Barclays Capital.
Andreas was the highest-rated speaker on the Financial Times Intro to the City programme six years in succession. He studied English at Leeds and Cambridge and splits his time between London and Madrid.
Review :
"This is a fast-paced and instructive read that is hard to put down. The ending does not disappoint, culminating in something just short of a financial revolution."
Hedge Funds Review, April 2012
'Filled with suspense and intrigue as well as spot on explanations of financial market products, this is clear, concise, funny and entertaining. A perfect way to learn what goes on in finance'.
Patricia Sparacio, Managing Director, New York Institute of Finance
'A fast paced story with telling lessons in investment and finance. This is a thoroughly enjoyable way of learning the basics and more'.
Alexander Davidson, financial journalist and author
'An unbiased and feasible tale of the contemporary market dealings. It highlights the ease with which illicit activities can be concealed, and greed can overcome sense'.
MHC Russell DL FCT
it is an engrossing read, with liberal helpings of wit and intrigue. Most importantly, it is an excellent tool for beginners in finance as it explains the jargon and the myriad concepts involved in the world of money. Helpful case studies are strategically placed throughout the book. Neither do these educational asides impede the narrative, or distract from it
. Loizou was aiming for an insiders tale and a guidebook. Arguably, he has squarely hit the target on both counts.
Calum Fuller, Financial World, 1st March 2012
The writing style is completely different to any other financial title I have ever read, it being part novel, part primer on the financial markets. Explanations of government bonds, compounded interest and shares in luxury hotel companies are interspersed with stories of a former finance lecturer travelling throughout the world's financial centres, getting involved with government agents and searching for his missing millionaire former student who has been accused of fraud
. A very enjoyable and highly readable book which is good enough to get through in one sitting.
Richard Gill, UK-Analyst, March 2012
