For some reason I’d avoided this book, even though I’d heard largely praise and compliments. I think it was because of an instinct to dislike the author’s supposed redemption arc f trader to whistleblower. Didn’t we, the non-financial civilians, already know that the City is full of bastards?
But it’s actually a great read. There is something about his writing that reminded me of James Frey and A Million Little Pieces, a style I really enjoyed.
The rags-to-riches story of a lad coming from a tough background and breaking into the city is impressive; raw ability, intelligence, and desire. But as soon as it moves onto the money-making section and his elevation to the top trader at Citibank it is shocking how little oversight there is across the most junior of traders – this allows him to strike a billion dollar foreign exchange swap in Swiss Francs, which seemingly few senior people either know or care about, even though he wasn’t officially the Swiss trader.
His ethical wrestling with his job and the whole trading world is both understandable (for a regular person) but also admirable (as clearly the vast majority of his peers do not think along those lines).
An insightful and entertaining ride.
