Investment-bank

Stephen Fay's book The Collapse of Barings joins a growing list of contemporary accounts of the banking scandal that brought down England's most prestigious investment bank. The financial calamity that Nicholas Leeson unleashed through his unauthorized trading was so grand in scope that the story seemed likely to be of great interest as well. A story about a "rogue trader" in Singapore who could destabilize finances worldwide and bring down the Queen's bank has so many angles worthy of exploration, from the character of Leeson to the technology that made it possible, from the history of Barings to the nature of global finance, that you can't blame writers for rushing in to chronicle it. But with Leeson's own tell-all tome Rogue Trader, and the excellent account Total Risk: Nick Leeson and the Fall of Barings Bank by Judith H. Rawnsley, as well as a fascinating chapter on the Barings scandal in Martin Meyer's book The Bankers: The Next Generation, the story has largely been told. Nevertheless, Stephen Fay is an excellent business writer, and his book is an adept study of Leeson and the damage he did to banking and Barings. Fay pays particular attention to the British reaction to the Barings collapse and uncovers anglophile angles previously overlooked. Those looking for another take on the Barings scandal or an exhaustive collection of Barings books will snatch this book up with no regrets.