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Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World
Tower of Basel is the first investigative history of the world's most secretive global financial institution. Based on extensive archival research in Switzerland, Britain, and the United States, and in-depth interviews with key decision-makers--including Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve; Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England; and former senior Bank for International Settlements managers and officials--Tower of Basel tells the inside story of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS): the central bankers' own bank. Created by the governors of the Bank of England and the Reichsbank in 1930, and protected by an international treaty, the BIS and its assets are legally beyond the reach of any government or jurisdiction. The bank is untouchable. Swiss authorities have no jurisdiction over the bank or its premises. The BIS has just 140 customers but made tax-free profits of $1.17 billion in 2011--2012. Since its creation, the bank has been at the heart of global events but has often gone unnoticed. Under Thomas McKittrick, the bank's American president from 1940--1946, the BIS was open for business throughout the Second World War. The BIS accepted looted Nazi gold, conducted foreign exchange deals for the Reichsbank, and was used by both the Allies and the Axis powers as a secret contact point to keep the channels of international finance open. After 1945 the BIS--still behind the scenes--for decades provided the necessary technical and administrative support for the trans-European currency project, from the first attempts to harmonize exchange rates in the late 1940s to the launch of the Euro in 2002. It now stands at the center of efforts to build a new global financial and regulatory architecture, once again proving that it has the power to shape the financial rules of our world. Yet despite its pivotal role in the financial and political history of the last century and during the economic current crisis, the BIS has remained largely unknown--until now.
360 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
About the author
Adam LeBor
20 books64 followersAdam LeBor was born in London and read Arabic, international history and politics at Leeds University, graduating in 1983, and also studied Arabic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He worked for several British newspapers before becoming a foreign correspondent in 1991. He has reported from thirty countries, including Israel and Palestine, and covered the Yugoslav wars for The Times of London and The Independent. Currently Central Europe correspondent for The Times of London, he also writes for the Sunday Times, The Econdomist, Literary Review, Condé Nast Traveller, the Jewish Chronicle, New Statesman and Harry's Place in Britain, and contributes to The Nation and the New York Times in the States. He is the author of seven books, including the best-selling Hitler's Secret Bankers, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. His books have been published in nine languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
February 27, 2014
What a huge disappointment. The only explanation I have for the great reviews in the WSJ or the Times is that they didn't read the whole thing. Its littered with typo's, spelling errors, and even grammar mistakes (no, Belgian and Belgium are not the same, and Alfred Krupp is not spelled Alfried).
What is much worse is the content. As a general rule it has been proven useful to stay clear of books about conspiracy theories if you want real information. Same applies here. The author sees conspiracies everywhere and considers the Bank of International Settlements the "vampire squid of regulation"!! No, there is no doubt about the entanglement of the BIS with the Nazi regime, nevertheless today's BIS is a different animal. We learn nothing about the Basel Accords, and close nothing about the fact that the BIS did actually warn of the Asian Financial Crisis and the 2007 crash. So if you want to learn what the BIS actually does and how it works, this is not a book for you. This is a book for people who like to watch History channel documentaries about the Nazi super weapons. Hey, a secret society, an all-powerful bank, and then you can even throw in some Nazis - how could that not sell?!
What is much worse is the content. As a general rule it has been proven useful to stay clear of books about conspiracy theories if you want real information. Same applies here. The author sees conspiracies everywhere and considers the Bank of International Settlements the "vampire squid of regulation"!! No, there is no doubt about the entanglement of the BIS with the Nazi regime, nevertheless today's BIS is a different animal. We learn nothing about the Basel Accords, and close nothing about the fact that the BIS did actually warn of the Asian Financial Crisis and the 2007 crash. So if you want to learn what the BIS actually does and how it works, this is not a book for you. This is a book for people who like to watch History channel documentaries about the Nazi super weapons. Hey, a secret society, an all-powerful bank, and then you can even throw in some Nazis - how could that not sell?!
October 18, 2018
I really wanted a good book about Basel and the BIS, but this book is just about the Nazi infiltration of the bank, which was terrible, but this is hardly a story of the bank. I agree with the thesis that we need more transparency about the BIS and Basel meetings. It's undemocratic and when they are wrong (like with Basel I and Basel II), there's no democratic accountabiliy. They are public servants not bankers, but they are unelected. All of this would be fine if they did not have so much power. So I think this structure is a problem (and LeBor goes into it a tiny bit in the end), but most of the book was about a specific moment in history.
July 12, 2013
By Dominic Elliott
“The shadowy history of the secret bank that runs the world”, the subtitle of Adam LeBor’s new book, may sound sensationalist. But “Tower of Basel” is an absorbing and thorough examination of one of the world’s most important yet opaque institutions: the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
The book’s publication is timely: revelations of Big Brother-style snooping by the U.S. government and the increasing influence of central bankers are troubling examples of what appears to be a power grab by the ruling elite. “Tower of Basel” shows how concentrated and opaque that control is in finance.
The BIS is often considered geek-central. It is the home of the immensely complicated Basel III rules for bank capital. Its reputation among financial types was enhanced by its regular warnings about excess leverage - starting well before the 2008 crisis. The BIS was chosen as the natural host for the Financial Stability Board, the group of global leaders that has coordinated the response to the crisis.
LeBor devotes little time to these issues, however. His concern is the bank’s lack of transparency and accountability. Despite being taxpayer-funded, the BIS is a club that operates with no democratic oversight. The bank is solidly profitable: it made $1.2 billion in tax-free profit in its last calendar year from the fees and commission it charges central banks for short-term liquidity and credit, gold swaps and other investments. That much, at least, is in the public domain.
But the BIS only makes ad hoc donations in the event of natural catastrophes: it has no set programme of philanthropy, according to LeBor. It also preciously guards the content of the discussions held at its offices.
The BIS’s history, described vividly by LeBor, suggests that opacity is troubling. The bank was founded in 1930 as a vehicle to funnel German reparations under the Young Plan after World War One. But it quickly adapted to become instrumental in keeping finance flowing during World War Two. Subsequently it oversaw the breakdown of the gold standard at Bretton Woods and the birth of the euro and the European Central Bank.
The BIS, then, has been a master of reinvention. But, as LeBor explains, it’s hard to dissolve an institution founded under international treaty with fixed statutes. Senior managers at the bank enjoy privileges akin to diplomats: their papers are inviolable and their actions at the bank are immune for life under Swiss law.
What’s more, this cosy club has a mixed moral record. Belgian and Czech gold stolen by the Nazis during World War Two found its way to vaults in the Reichsbank via the BIS. The bank was also alleged to have protected looted Nigerian money following the death of dictator Sani Abacha in 1998. In the 1930s, rumours abounded that BIS officials were using their informational advantages to speculate against the Swiss franc.
One of LeBor’s most telling anecdotes relates to the bank’s origins. Montagu Norman, then Bank of England governor, asked Walter Layton, editor of the Economist, to draw up the BIS’s constitution. Layton concluded that it couldn’t be done.
“The shadowy history of the secret bank that runs the world”, the subtitle of Adam LeBor’s new book, may sound sensationalist. But “Tower of Basel” is an absorbing and thorough examination of one of the world’s most important yet opaque institutions: the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
The book’s publication is timely: revelations of Big Brother-style snooping by the U.S. government and the increasing influence of central bankers are troubling examples of what appears to be a power grab by the ruling elite. “Tower of Basel” shows how concentrated and opaque that control is in finance.
The BIS is often considered geek-central. It is the home of the immensely complicated Basel III rules for bank capital. Its reputation among financial types was enhanced by its regular warnings about excess leverage - starting well before the 2008 crisis. The BIS was chosen as the natural host for the Financial Stability Board, the group of global leaders that has coordinated the response to the crisis.
LeBor devotes little time to these issues, however. His concern is the bank’s lack of transparency and accountability. Despite being taxpayer-funded, the BIS is a club that operates with no democratic oversight. The bank is solidly profitable: it made $1.2 billion in tax-free profit in its last calendar year from the fees and commission it charges central banks for short-term liquidity and credit, gold swaps and other investments. That much, at least, is in the public domain.
But the BIS only makes ad hoc donations in the event of natural catastrophes: it has no set programme of philanthropy, according to LeBor. It also preciously guards the content of the discussions held at its offices.
The BIS’s history, described vividly by LeBor, suggests that opacity is troubling. The bank was founded in 1930 as a vehicle to funnel German reparations under the Young Plan after World War One. But it quickly adapted to become instrumental in keeping finance flowing during World War Two. Subsequently it oversaw the breakdown of the gold standard at Bretton Woods and the birth of the euro and the European Central Bank.
The BIS, then, has been a master of reinvention. But, as LeBor explains, it’s hard to dissolve an institution founded under international treaty with fixed statutes. Senior managers at the bank enjoy privileges akin to diplomats: their papers are inviolable and their actions at the bank are immune for life under Swiss law.
What’s more, this cosy club has a mixed moral record. Belgian and Czech gold stolen by the Nazis during World War Two found its way to vaults in the Reichsbank via the BIS. The bank was also alleged to have protected looted Nigerian money following the death of dictator Sani Abacha in 1998. In the 1930s, rumours abounded that BIS officials were using their informational advantages to speculate against the Swiss franc.
One of LeBor’s most telling anecdotes relates to the bank’s origins. Montagu Norman, then Bank of England governor, asked Walter Layton, editor of the Economist, to draw up the BIS’s constitution. Layton concluded that it couldn’t be done.
July 2, 2013
Disappointing. I purchased this book after reading a favorable review in the Wall Street Journal. The book did not provide any additional information beyond that in the WSJ review. The Bank for International Settlements was founded to deal with Germany's reparation payments after World War I. According to the author, it was founded by and for Nazis to escape the reparations, fund World War II and the Holocaust. It seemed like more than three quarters of the book concerned Nazis. It could have either been a much shorter book or the author could have spent more time on post Cold War activities of the bank.
Steven Spielberg will probably make another Indiana Jones movie out of this book.
Steven Spielberg will probably make another Indiana Jones movie out of this book.
March 4, 2021
When I saw the book, I was interested in it because I never heard of the BIS. Maybe this was a weird bank that operates in the shadows with no regulations. Maybe this was a secret bank that propped up the Nazi regime. Maybe this bank had a role in the 2007-08 financial crisis.
It turns out that one of the things is slightly true. While I feel that there needs to be more transparency about the BIS, this is hardly a sinister bank. Mr. LeBor tries to get people worked up even before reading the book and then unloads a big ol’ nothingburger on us. I get that this bank had heavy Nazi influence in its early stages, but then turned into a bank to stabilize the world and find ways to help create a sounder financial union. Sometimes, operating in the shadows in Ok if it produces results. I didn't get mad about this at all, but maybe a little more sunshine on the bank can help.
It turns out that one of the things is slightly true. While I feel that there needs to be more transparency about the BIS, this is hardly a sinister bank. Mr. LeBor tries to get people worked up even before reading the book and then unloads a big ol’ nothingburger on us. I get that this bank had heavy Nazi influence in its early stages, but then turned into a bank to stabilize the world and find ways to help create a sounder financial union. Sometimes, operating in the shadows in Ok if it produces results. I didn't get mad about this at all, but maybe a little more sunshine on the bank can help.
August 28, 2013
I was so incredibly excited about this book, the subject promised to be so very interesting: I was expecting great analysis and big picture views but unfortunately the book seems to have more of a socialist jealousy and moralistic perspective, focusing much more on what the author thinks others should do as opposed to what they did and why they did it. A lot of pages were (from my point of view) wasted on casting blame on individual actors and characters, personal histories and the like (dirty info is valuable, just could've been done more briefly), in a writing style that strongly reminds me of a newspaper's journalistic style: oriented on individuals and scandals not on bigger picture and analysis of incentives and results.
It's still great to get a book on the BIS, the bank of banks that most people have not even heard about. The author's view seems to be an anglo-american perspective, which might not do justice to an institution much more concerned with bigger picture world trade and prosperity on a world wide basis, "even" to non-english speaking nations. Is promotion of a certain agenda/world view more important than feeding/clothing/sheltering people across the world and of all agendas? Is it better to fight wars for noble causes or to do trade even between hated enemies? Stopping seems to mostly result in poverty and needless deaths and the human superorganism seems to not like that very much.
It's still great to get a book on the BIS, the bank of banks that most people have not even heard about. The author's view seems to be an anglo-american perspective, which might not do justice to an institution much more concerned with bigger picture world trade and prosperity on a world wide basis, "even" to non-english speaking nations. Is promotion of a certain agenda/world view more important than feeding/clothing/sheltering people across the world and of all agendas? Is it better to fight wars for noble causes or to do trade even between hated enemies? Stopping seems to mostly result in poverty and needless deaths and the human superorganism seems to not like that very much.
May 5, 2014
Was rather disappointed with this book. I did not learn much from this book beyond what I read in several reviews (how bad is that when you can learn all a book has to offer in 15 column inches??). The coverage of how the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) actually handled the recent global financial meltdown was thin. It reads at times - many times - like a breathless expose' instead of a history book. Not very helpful, I'm sorry to say, and not much of a contribution to better understanding our global financial system.
March 12, 2022
More of a 2.5. Such a strange book. Adam Lebor, who wrote some other decent books (many fictions with conspiracy theories), decided to write about an obscure international organization, known mostly by people in the central banking community. It has interesting pieces of information, such as the shameful role of the BIS (and the Bank of England) during WW2 and how the Americans, led by Harry D. White, tried to close it down after the war. For someone not familiar with economics, it contains good plain explanations about what happened to global financial markets around the 2008 crisis. But, besides that, the book seems to attempt to portrait the BIS as the seat for the "Gnomes of Zurich". The author finds conspiracy everywhere. One of the most tiresome part is the excessive focus on Thomas McKittrick, the American president of the institution during WW2. LeBor tries to portrait him almost as a Nazi spy. The author presents some suggestions to increase the transparency of the institution, but does not get that the power of decision is not in Basel but in the national capitals of the central bankers that gather there. In the end, the book seems to be an exercise of "unaccountable-to-the-people-globalist-technocrats" bashing. It fits the timing of the publishing. This is the type of thinking that led to Brexit and Trump.
August 1, 2023
ECB, BIS, BoE, IMF, The Federal "reserve"
It's all a ponzi.
It's all a ponzi.
June 15, 2020
An interesting look at an obscure and unique financial institution. Also a surprising look at the financial side of World War 2.
December 27, 2022
“The sinews of war are infinite money.” - Cicero, Roman philosopher
WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?
- Tower of Basel is the first investigative history of the world's most secretive global financial institution. It tells the inside story of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS): the central bankers' own bank.
UNTOUCHABLE
- The Swiss authorities have no juridisdiction over the BIS premises. Founded by an international treaty, and further protected by the 1987 Headquarters Agreement with the Swiss government, the BIS enjoys similar protections to those granted to the headquarters of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and diplomatic embassies.
WHAT BANKING SERVICES DOES THE BIS OFFER?
- The BIS buys and sells gold and foreign exchange for its clients. It provides asset management and arranges short-term credit to central banks when needed.
ORIGIN
- The BIS was founded in 1930. It was ostensibly set up as part of the Young Plan to administer German reparations payments for the First World War.
- The bank would hold central banks’ gold and convertible currency deposits. These deposits could be used to settle international payments without having to either physically move the gold between banks or trade the currency through foreign exchange markets. The BIS would be an international clearinghouse for central banks, the world’s first.
PURPOSES
- The BIS had been established for three main purposes. The first, and ostensibly the most important, was to manage German reparations payments under the 1930 Young Plan. The second was to facilitate cooperation between central banks. And the third was to act as a bank for central banks.
THE BIS EVOLVED OVER TIME TO TRY AND STAY USEFUL
- The 1932 Lausanne Conference had confirmed that Germany’s war debts would be written off. Thus, there were no more reparations payments.
- the global economy was now so complex that an international clearinghouse would be needed once the war was over. The new IMF and IBRD would not be able to perform these functions.
- The BIS was also surprisingly nimble. The bank had been an early adopter of computer technology and its ultrasecure databases, which were hosted in the tower, were fast becoming the essential reference store for information on central banks and cross-border banking transactions.
A SHADY PAST
- During [WWII], the BIS became a de-facto arm of the Reichsbank, accepting looted Nazi gold and carrying out foreign exchange deals for Nazi Germany.
- Nazi Germany benefited immeasurably from its relationship with the BIS. By 1939 the BIS’s investments in Germany totaled 294 million Swiss gold francs ($ 96 million),
- The governor of the Bank of England had no interest in whether Czechoslovakia was free or a Nazi colony. “Political” considerations must not affect the BIS’s transactions. The transfer order [of looted Czech gold], he said, must go through…With London, Paris, and Basel’s compliance, Nazi Germany had just looted 23.1 metric tons of gold without a shot being fired.
- The Dulles brothers would help ensure that Nazi bankers, businessmen, and industrialists—many of whom should have been tried for war crimes—were seamlessly integrated back into powerful positions in the new Federal Republic of Germany.
MONEY AS A WEAPON OF WAR
- Money, as much as superior numbers and military forces, helped Franco to victory. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy provided hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid. The nationalists understood that finance was a weapon as effective as bullets.
BIS SERVED AS A BACK CHANNEL, SOURCE OF INTEL DURING WWII
- Back channels between the Allies and the Axis powers existed throughout the war in neutral capitals such as Stockholm, Berne, and Lisbon. The BIS was one of them. Its multinational staff and neutral, privileged status made the bank an ideal place for gathering and disseminating intelligence.
- THE BIS was used by Japan as a channel to try and negotiate a peace treaty.
IMPORTANCE OF NEUTRALITY, IMPARTIALITY
- The bank’s emphasis on its supposed neutrality was an alibi for its future role in reconstructing Europe
- The bank was a ‘sort of club’ for the world’s central bankers, a ‘little group of like-minded-men who understood and trusted one another.’” This trust was unimpaired by issues such as national, political, or governmental interests.
BIS KEY IN HELPING WITH POST-WAR GOAL OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
- The State Department made it clear to its European allies that American aid would come at a price: financial and economic cooperation between the recipient countries with a view toward eventual European union.
- The BIS did not seek to compete with the IMF and offer loans to indebted countries (although it would later arrange international credits to troubled economies). Nor did it try and compete with the World Bank and fund development projects. Rather, the BIS stuck to what it knew best: offering discreet services, financial coordination, and a confidential venue to central bankers, all of which were in great demand in postwar Europe.
- The new Europe would need swift, international payment mechanisms, more harmonized exchange rates, and perhaps eventually a new single currency. There was nobody better placed to offer these services than the technocrats of the BIS.
MARSHALL PLAN (NO FREE LUNCH)
- Marshall aid came at a price: remodeling European societies on the American model of consumerism and consumption.
- With Marshall Plan aid dependent on progress toward a federal Europe, the United States could, and did, wield enormous influence on the political structures of the postwar continent.
BIS JUMPED IN AT CERTAIN POINTS TO HELP GLOBAL FINANCES
- In 1960 the gold spike threatened to undermine the stability of the postwar financial system…Britain persuaded the United States that there was a much simpler approach to organizing multilateral interventions: through the governors’ meetings at BIS.
- But once news got out that the United States was selling its gold reserves after [Kennedy] had been assassinated, the dollar would immediately plunge. The best option was to borrow and sell foreign currency by drawing on the Federal Reserve’s currency swap network.
- The IMF was prepared to loan Mexico $4.5 billion, but the fund moved slowly, and the paperwork might take months to be approved. Here, too, the BIS connection helped save the country.
- The bank was managing multiple bailout packages that were easing the Latin American debt crisis and so preventing a potential catastrophic run on American banks.
BIS HELPED UNDERMINE COMMUNISM
- The central European nation was one of the BIS’s earliest members. One of the bank’s first acts was to extend credit to Hungary and several of its neighbors, in 1931.
- The bank’s bridging loan had reinforced international confidence in the Hungarian reformers, which in turn had boosted their political standing at home, which had weakened the grip of the Communist party and allowed the opening of the Iron Curtain. That in turn triggered a domino effect across the region and accelerated the collapse of the one-party system.
PROBLEMS WITH THE EUROZONE
- The Eurozone had two inherent flaws. First, it was not a homogeneous currency area. Uniting countries as diverse as Germany and Greece—or Italy or France for that matter—each with different cultures, histories, economic and fiscal policies, and attitudes toward the role of the state and rights to raise taxes was always going to be a hazardous enterprise,
- Second, the Eurozone needed a credible transnational fiscal system, with rules and an enforcement mechanism, as Lamfalussy had argued. National governments in the Eurozone retained the rights to raise taxes and control their public spending, even though those decisions ultimately impacted on the other members.
WHAT IS THERE FOR BIS TO DO NOW THAT THE EURO IS SET UP?
- …all the Euro stuff was going to get done somewhere else.”The BIS had to find a new purpose. “Crockett said, we are going to go global.” But for that to happen, the United States needed to be on board.
- “in recognition of the increasingly important role of the BIS as the principal forum for consultation, cooperation and information exchange among central bankers and in anticipation of a broadening of that role.”
- Two years later, in 1996, the central banks or monetary authorities of China, India, Russia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia joined. The BIS’s future was assured.
BIS HAS LOTS OF USEFUL DATA
- The BIS’s decision to collect statistics on international banking activity and computerize its data repository had paid handsome dividends. The bank rapidly became one of the best-informed financial institutions in the world, especially about cross-border banking transactions and the flow of international capital.
- Everybody says nobody foresaw 2007–2008; that’s not true. One organisation that did was the BIS. Not in every detail.
AUTHOR HAS CONSIDERABLE CONCERNS ABOUT BIS
- The BIS has survived through the decades just as it was born—by opacity, secrecy, and by hiding behind a carapace of legal immunities. These protections perpetuate the technocrats’ belief that a tiny, self-selecting elite, unaccountable to everyday citizens, should manage global finance.
- central contradiction: that it is shaping the regulatory future of global finance and calls for good governance, yet its own affairs are kept firmly hidden behind a thicket of legal immunities and protections.
- The bank needs to reform in three areas to ensure its survival: transparency, accountability, and corporate social responsibility.
*** *** *** *** ***
FACTOIDS
- The German invasion of Switzerland never happened. Swiss francs, Swiss banks, and the BIS were far more use to the Third Reich than another stretch of mountainous territory, where a stubborn, hardy population would have likely waged guerilla warfare against the Nazis.
- the delegates settled on Basel, Switzerland, which was conveniently located on several international railway lines and on the borders of France and Germany.
- The BIS is now the world’s thirtieth-largest holder of gold reserves, with 119 metric tons—more than Qatar, Brazil, or Canada.
- In July 1916, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, Britain lost 60,000 men—the equivalent of a medium-sized town, mown down in a few hours.
BONUS
- The author discusses the book: https://youtu.be/jwavC3FcpsU
- Bank for International Settlements (BIS): https://youtu.be/E360bwT9TPw
- More on BIS: https://youtu.be/-KNHTwc5SXg
- Limestone discs used as currency in Micronesia but don’t get exchanged physically: https://youtu.be/Byy6RMVNkvo
- Modern companies that collaborated with the Nazis: https://youtu.be/saEtl9Uakkc
- What is the “Bretton Woods” system?: https://youtu.be/-6bVeDab6UA
- Founding of the European Union: https://youtu.be/sAKpLw8n7Tg
- History of the Euro currency: https://youtu.be/PdLr3lTSyns
WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT?
- Tower of Basel is the first investigative history of the world's most secretive global financial institution. It tells the inside story of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS): the central bankers' own bank.
UNTOUCHABLE
- The Swiss authorities have no juridisdiction over the BIS premises. Founded by an international treaty, and further protected by the 1987 Headquarters Agreement with the Swiss government, the BIS enjoys similar protections to those granted to the headquarters of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and diplomatic embassies.
WHAT BANKING SERVICES DOES THE BIS OFFER?
- The BIS buys and sells gold and foreign exchange for its clients. It provides asset management and arranges short-term credit to central banks when needed.
ORIGIN
- The BIS was founded in 1930. It was ostensibly set up as part of the Young Plan to administer German reparations payments for the First World War.
- The bank would hold central banks’ gold and convertible currency deposits. These deposits could be used to settle international payments without having to either physically move the gold between banks or trade the currency through foreign exchange markets. The BIS would be an international clearinghouse for central banks, the world’s first.
PURPOSES
- The BIS had been established for three main purposes. The first, and ostensibly the most important, was to manage German reparations payments under the 1930 Young Plan. The second was to facilitate cooperation between central banks. And the third was to act as a bank for central banks.
THE BIS EVOLVED OVER TIME TO TRY AND STAY USEFUL
- The 1932 Lausanne Conference had confirmed that Germany’s war debts would be written off. Thus, there were no more reparations payments.
- the global economy was now so complex that an international clearinghouse would be needed once the war was over. The new IMF and IBRD would not be able to perform these functions.
- The BIS was also surprisingly nimble. The bank had been an early adopter of computer technology and its ultrasecure databases, which were hosted in the tower, were fast becoming the essential reference store for information on central banks and cross-border banking transactions.
A SHADY PAST
- During [WWII], the BIS became a de-facto arm of the Reichsbank, accepting looted Nazi gold and carrying out foreign exchange deals for Nazi Germany.
- Nazi Germany benefited immeasurably from its relationship with the BIS. By 1939 the BIS’s investments in Germany totaled 294 million Swiss gold francs ($ 96 million),
- The governor of the Bank of England had no interest in whether Czechoslovakia was free or a Nazi colony. “Political” considerations must not affect the BIS’s transactions. The transfer order [of looted Czech gold], he said, must go through…With London, Paris, and Basel’s compliance, Nazi Germany had just looted 23.1 metric tons of gold without a shot being fired.
- The Dulles brothers would help ensure that Nazi bankers, businessmen, and industrialists—many of whom should have been tried for war crimes—were seamlessly integrated back into powerful positions in the new Federal Republic of Germany.
MONEY AS A WEAPON OF WAR
- Money, as much as superior numbers and military forces, helped Franco to victory. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy provided hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid. The nationalists understood that finance was a weapon as effective as bullets.
BIS SERVED AS A BACK CHANNEL, SOURCE OF INTEL DURING WWII
- Back channels between the Allies and the Axis powers existed throughout the war in neutral capitals such as Stockholm, Berne, and Lisbon. The BIS was one of them. Its multinational staff and neutral, privileged status made the bank an ideal place for gathering and disseminating intelligence.
- THE BIS was used by Japan as a channel to try and negotiate a peace treaty.
IMPORTANCE OF NEUTRALITY, IMPARTIALITY
- The bank’s emphasis on its supposed neutrality was an alibi for its future role in reconstructing Europe
- The bank was a ‘sort of club’ for the world’s central bankers, a ‘little group of like-minded-men who understood and trusted one another.’” This trust was unimpaired by issues such as national, political, or governmental interests.
BIS KEY IN HELPING WITH POST-WAR GOAL OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
- The State Department made it clear to its European allies that American aid would come at a price: financial and economic cooperation between the recipient countries with a view toward eventual European union.
- The BIS did not seek to compete with the IMF and offer loans to indebted countries (although it would later arrange international credits to troubled economies). Nor did it try and compete with the World Bank and fund development projects. Rather, the BIS stuck to what it knew best: offering discreet services, financial coordination, and a confidential venue to central bankers, all of which were in great demand in postwar Europe.
- The new Europe would need swift, international payment mechanisms, more harmonized exchange rates, and perhaps eventually a new single currency. There was nobody better placed to offer these services than the technocrats of the BIS.
MARSHALL PLAN (NO FREE LUNCH)
- Marshall aid came at a price: remodeling European societies on the American model of consumerism and consumption.
- With Marshall Plan aid dependent on progress toward a federal Europe, the United States could, and did, wield enormous influence on the political structures of the postwar continent.
BIS JUMPED IN AT CERTAIN POINTS TO HELP GLOBAL FINANCES
- In 1960 the gold spike threatened to undermine the stability of the postwar financial system…Britain persuaded the United States that there was a much simpler approach to organizing multilateral interventions: through the governors’ meetings at BIS.
- But once news got out that the United States was selling its gold reserves after [Kennedy] had been assassinated, the dollar would immediately plunge. The best option was to borrow and sell foreign currency by drawing on the Federal Reserve’s currency swap network.
- The IMF was prepared to loan Mexico $4.5 billion, but the fund moved slowly, and the paperwork might take months to be approved. Here, too, the BIS connection helped save the country.
- The bank was managing multiple bailout packages that were easing the Latin American debt crisis and so preventing a potential catastrophic run on American banks.
BIS HELPED UNDERMINE COMMUNISM
- The central European nation was one of the BIS’s earliest members. One of the bank’s first acts was to extend credit to Hungary and several of its neighbors, in 1931.
- The bank’s bridging loan had reinforced international confidence in the Hungarian reformers, which in turn had boosted their political standing at home, which had weakened the grip of the Communist party and allowed the opening of the Iron Curtain. That in turn triggered a domino effect across the region and accelerated the collapse of the one-party system.
PROBLEMS WITH THE EUROZONE
- The Eurozone had two inherent flaws. First, it was not a homogeneous currency area. Uniting countries as diverse as Germany and Greece—or Italy or France for that matter—each with different cultures, histories, economic and fiscal policies, and attitudes toward the role of the state and rights to raise taxes was always going to be a hazardous enterprise,
- Second, the Eurozone needed a credible transnational fiscal system, with rules and an enforcement mechanism, as Lamfalussy had argued. National governments in the Eurozone retained the rights to raise taxes and control their public spending, even though those decisions ultimately impacted on the other members.
WHAT IS THERE FOR BIS TO DO NOW THAT THE EURO IS SET UP?
- …all the Euro stuff was going to get done somewhere else.”The BIS had to find a new purpose. “Crockett said, we are going to go global.” But for that to happen, the United States needed to be on board.
- “in recognition of the increasingly important role of the BIS as the principal forum for consultation, cooperation and information exchange among central bankers and in anticipation of a broadening of that role.”
- Two years later, in 1996, the central banks or monetary authorities of China, India, Russia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia joined. The BIS’s future was assured.
BIS HAS LOTS OF USEFUL DATA
- The BIS’s decision to collect statistics on international banking activity and computerize its data repository had paid handsome dividends. The bank rapidly became one of the best-informed financial institutions in the world, especially about cross-border banking transactions and the flow of international capital.
- Everybody says nobody foresaw 2007–2008; that’s not true. One organisation that did was the BIS. Not in every detail.
AUTHOR HAS CONSIDERABLE CONCERNS ABOUT BIS
- The BIS has survived through the decades just as it was born—by opacity, secrecy, and by hiding behind a carapace of legal immunities. These protections perpetuate the technocrats’ belief that a tiny, self-selecting elite, unaccountable to everyday citizens, should manage global finance.
- central contradiction: that it is shaping the regulatory future of global finance and calls for good governance, yet its own affairs are kept firmly hidden behind a thicket of legal immunities and protections.
- The bank needs to reform in three areas to ensure its survival: transparency, accountability, and corporate social responsibility.
*** *** *** *** ***
FACTOIDS
- The German invasion of Switzerland never happened. Swiss francs, Swiss banks, and the BIS were far more use to the Third Reich than another stretch of mountainous territory, where a stubborn, hardy population would have likely waged guerilla warfare against the Nazis.
- the delegates settled on Basel, Switzerland, which was conveniently located on several international railway lines and on the borders of France and Germany.
- The BIS is now the world’s thirtieth-largest holder of gold reserves, with 119 metric tons—more than Qatar, Brazil, or Canada.
- In July 1916, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, Britain lost 60,000 men—the equivalent of a medium-sized town, mown down in a few hours.
BONUS
- The author discusses the book: https://youtu.be/jwavC3FcpsU
- Bank for International Settlements (BIS): https://youtu.be/E360bwT9TPw
- More on BIS: https://youtu.be/-KNHTwc5SXg
- Limestone discs used as currency in Micronesia but don’t get exchanged physically: https://youtu.be/Byy6RMVNkvo
- Modern companies that collaborated with the Nazis: https://youtu.be/saEtl9Uakkc
- What is the “Bretton Woods” system?: https://youtu.be/-6bVeDab6UA
- Founding of the European Union: https://youtu.be/sAKpLw8n7Tg
- History of the Euro currency: https://youtu.be/PdLr3lTSyns
May 5, 2017
yes, to the majority who do not know that American, British have been dealing business and close communication with NASDAP (Hitler) during the rise of Hitler. And BIS was known to be a secret business channel between Hitler and the West even during the landing of Normandy..the irony of this reflects the greater directions and thoughts for us to think about this secret institution. My questions are the same, but in a lesser doubts than the author himself: i) yes, if BIS wants the other countries to be following Basel regulation, which means requiring the pretax of financial and operational transparency, but BIS itself does not equip with the transparency in which they impose on others (Red flag) ii) if BIS claim that Pakistan, etc does not living up to its management or transparency level, that is why Pakistan is not the member...but why the selections of others, but BIS itself maintains its secrecy? iii) every Central Bank members are the shareholder of BIS itself maintains its secrecy? iii) every Central Bank members are the shareholder of BIS, so each countries pays a handsome fee for this literally tax free organization where workers are exempt from tax...while it produces technical, economical forecast for all, but it still cannot prevent other countries to have financial meltdown?? so why to join this so called organized, elite bank of the world?? (Red flag)...iv) the conclusion of this book is still leave many to think and imagine and I am sure from Author Lebor's POV, there are many things he cannot really say nor exposed..who are the political and financial control of these so called Central Banks and BIS?? My another good book for all: End the Fed..or go google City of London Corporation...another worthy to look at why the West has turned their interest against Hitler so suddenly is it really because of the Jewish exile policies (Post Crystal Night)...? I remembered Stalin at first was expelling the Jewish as well....(War is all about business)
December 6, 2023
«El superbanco» es una obra de no ficción apasionante sobre economía, geopolítica e historia que también deja ese sabor agridulce de los grandes relatos históricos sobre el poder: es un placer conocer y aprender de dónde venimos, pero al mismo tiempo es desasosegante tener conciencia de que vivimos en Matrix y de que no hay ninguna intención de que la gente común salga de tal cárcel mental. No es de extrañar que tanto los sistemas educativos como los medios de (des)información y entretenimiento sean fábricas de producción en masa de mentiras, medias verdades y completas estupideces banales cuyo único objetivo es tener al personal narcotizado o ideologizado de una manera que permite teledirigir y programar sus acciones mientras creen actuar por voluntad propia.
Por ejemplo, resulta cuanto menos insultante comprobar al leer este libro que el BIS (siglas en inglés del Banco de Pagos Internacionales), una institución que funcionó como facilitadora de las transacciones bancarias internacionales para el régimen nazi y los plutócratas norteamericanos antes, durante y después de la II Guerra Mundial, entre otras buenas acciones, sea hoy de los principales impulsores de la implantación global de las divisas digitales de banca central (CBDCs) y la subsiguiente prohibición del dinero en efectivo «por nuestro bien», «para luchar contra el fraude», «por nuestra seguridad». Adam Lebor, el autor de esta obra, aporta una gran cantidad de datos al respecto, los cuales están respaldados por múltiples fuentes primarias que sirven para conocer las relaciones entre personas y organizaciones, muchas de las cuales ya son conocidas sospechosas habituales para los no profanos en estos asuntos. Los hermanos Dulles, IG Farben, JP Morgan, la Standard Oil y los Rockefeller, la Unión Europea o el BCE son sólo algunos de los «santos mártires» que, más o menos a la sombra, llevan desde hace mucho tiempo dirigiendo y tratando de dirigir este mundo para adecuarlo a sus propios intereses, los cuales, de ningún modo están alineados con los de sus compatriotas o los de la gente común en general. Es más, tampoco están totalmente alineados los intereses de los distintos grupos entre sí, aunque sí se producen colusiones sectoriales en momentos determinados del tiempo.
Es por ello que confío en que la lectura del relato del autor ayude a sus lectores a superar la disyuntiva prefabricada entre las perspectivas de izquierdas y derechas que impide a los ciudadanos de a pie escapar del cepo ideológico que debilita a sus respectivos países. El poder hace mucho tiempo que no descansa sólo sobre las grandes empresas y empresarios o sólo sobre los Estados, y cada día se hace más evidente. Por el contrario, el poder hoy reside en la relación simbiótica que mantienen ambos entes. Estados y grandes empresas, junto a sus correspondientes satélites (ONGs, fundaciones, instituciones públicas, etc.), conforman una relación de tipo mutualista entre sí puesto que se benefician mutuamente de dicha conexión. Ahora bien, estos actores al mismo tiempo mantienen una relación de tipo parasitario con el resto de la sociedad, ya que para sobrevivir necesitan absorber vitalidad del ciudadano común por vías como una fiscalidad de voracidad creciente o la transformación del ciudadano en alguien con la cartera atrapada en las fauces de las grandes empresas, haciendo de él lo que podría llamarse como cliente-contribuyente. Es este nuevo Leviatán formado por las élites económicas y políticas supranacionales quien ostenta el poder. Controla la emisión de dinero con una mano y en la otra empuña la porra, que es lo que se esconde tras la ley. Con la combinación de ambas tiene la capacidad de someter a los ciudadanos, que ya no serían tal, sino meros súbditos de usar y tirar a los que se inventaría, acorrala, exprime y esquila como si fuesen una suerte de ganado global.
Ante esta situación es probable que sólo quepa una escapatoria: el esfuerzo en la toma de conciencia de una masa crítica de ciudadanos sin miedo a saber y ser libres y que, habiendo logrado entender y vivir en el mundo real, puedan llevar a cabo acciones que permitan romper un sistema cuya perversidad y fracasos se están haciendo tan evidentes que ya casi no se esfuerza en proveerse de máscaras para seguir ejecutando sus planes de dominación global.
Si alguien cree que la salvación pasa por votar a nuevos Mesías, ese alguien está condenado a la decepción. Obrando así sólo interpreta el papel que le ha sido dado por los directores de la obra. Hay que escapar del plató del show de Truman. Hay que gritar bien alto que no somos ganado, que somos seres humanos y que tenemos derechos naturales a la vida, a la propiedad privada y a la libertad. Simplemente por ser humanos, no porque estos derechos sean otorgados arbitrariamente por una ley hecha por los hombres. Y es que a menudo se defiende el imperio de la ley –quien escribe estas palabras también lo ha hecho–, pero no hay que confundir la defensa del imperio de la ley con la defensa de la ley del imperio. Como decía Bastiat, «el mayor cambio y el mayor castigo que podía experimentar la sociedad es que la Ley se convirtiese en instrumento de despojo. ¿Cuáles son las consecuencias de perturbación semejante? (…) La primera es borrar de las conciencias la noción de lo justo y lo injusto (…) Cuando la Ley y la Moral están en contradicción, el ciudadano se encuentra en la cruel alternativa de perder la noción de Moral o el respeto a la Ley; calamidades a cual más grandes, y entre las cuales es imposible elegir (…) Es tan propio de la naturaleza de la Ley el hacer reinar la Justicia, que Ley y Justicia son una cosa misma en la mente de las masas (…) Todos sentimos una gran disposición a considerar lo legal como cosa legítima, hasta tal punto que son muchos los que equivocadamente quieren que toda justicia sea una derivación de la Ley (…) Basta, pues, con que la Ley ordene y sancione el despojo para que el despojo parezca justo y sagrado a muchos hombres (…) No puede existir sociedad alguna sin el respeto más o menos profundo a las leyes; pero la condición más segura de que las leyes sean respetadas es que sean respetables».
Por ejemplo, resulta cuanto menos insultante comprobar al leer este libro que el BIS (siglas en inglés del Banco de Pagos Internacionales), una institución que funcionó como facilitadora de las transacciones bancarias internacionales para el régimen nazi y los plutócratas norteamericanos antes, durante y después de la II Guerra Mundial, entre otras buenas acciones, sea hoy de los principales impulsores de la implantación global de las divisas digitales de banca central (CBDCs) y la subsiguiente prohibición del dinero en efectivo «por nuestro bien», «para luchar contra el fraude», «por nuestra seguridad». Adam Lebor, el autor de esta obra, aporta una gran cantidad de datos al respecto, los cuales están respaldados por múltiples fuentes primarias que sirven para conocer las relaciones entre personas y organizaciones, muchas de las cuales ya son conocidas sospechosas habituales para los no profanos en estos asuntos. Los hermanos Dulles, IG Farben, JP Morgan, la Standard Oil y los Rockefeller, la Unión Europea o el BCE son sólo algunos de los «santos mártires» que, más o menos a la sombra, llevan desde hace mucho tiempo dirigiendo y tratando de dirigir este mundo para adecuarlo a sus propios intereses, los cuales, de ningún modo están alineados con los de sus compatriotas o los de la gente común en general. Es más, tampoco están totalmente alineados los intereses de los distintos grupos entre sí, aunque sí se producen colusiones sectoriales en momentos determinados del tiempo.
Es por ello que confío en que la lectura del relato del autor ayude a sus lectores a superar la disyuntiva prefabricada entre las perspectivas de izquierdas y derechas que impide a los ciudadanos de a pie escapar del cepo ideológico que debilita a sus respectivos países. El poder hace mucho tiempo que no descansa sólo sobre las grandes empresas y empresarios o sólo sobre los Estados, y cada día se hace más evidente. Por el contrario, el poder hoy reside en la relación simbiótica que mantienen ambos entes. Estados y grandes empresas, junto a sus correspondientes satélites (ONGs, fundaciones, instituciones públicas, etc.), conforman una relación de tipo mutualista entre sí puesto que se benefician mutuamente de dicha conexión. Ahora bien, estos actores al mismo tiempo mantienen una relación de tipo parasitario con el resto de la sociedad, ya que para sobrevivir necesitan absorber vitalidad del ciudadano común por vías como una fiscalidad de voracidad creciente o la transformación del ciudadano en alguien con la cartera atrapada en las fauces de las grandes empresas, haciendo de él lo que podría llamarse como cliente-contribuyente. Es este nuevo Leviatán formado por las élites económicas y políticas supranacionales quien ostenta el poder. Controla la emisión de dinero con una mano y en la otra empuña la porra, que es lo que se esconde tras la ley. Con la combinación de ambas tiene la capacidad de someter a los ciudadanos, que ya no serían tal, sino meros súbditos de usar y tirar a los que se inventaría, acorrala, exprime y esquila como si fuesen una suerte de ganado global.
Ante esta situación es probable que sólo quepa una escapatoria: el esfuerzo en la toma de conciencia de una masa crítica de ciudadanos sin miedo a saber y ser libres y que, habiendo logrado entender y vivir en el mundo real, puedan llevar a cabo acciones que permitan romper un sistema cuya perversidad y fracasos se están haciendo tan evidentes que ya casi no se esfuerza en proveerse de máscaras para seguir ejecutando sus planes de dominación global.
Si alguien cree que la salvación pasa por votar a nuevos Mesías, ese alguien está condenado a la decepción. Obrando así sólo interpreta el papel que le ha sido dado por los directores de la obra. Hay que escapar del plató del show de Truman. Hay que gritar bien alto que no somos ganado, que somos seres humanos y que tenemos derechos naturales a la vida, a la propiedad privada y a la libertad. Simplemente por ser humanos, no porque estos derechos sean otorgados arbitrariamente por una ley hecha por los hombres. Y es que a menudo se defiende el imperio de la ley –quien escribe estas palabras también lo ha hecho–, pero no hay que confundir la defensa del imperio de la ley con la defensa de la ley del imperio. Como decía Bastiat, «el mayor cambio y el mayor castigo que podía experimentar la sociedad es que la Ley se convirtiese en instrumento de despojo. ¿Cuáles son las consecuencias de perturbación semejante? (…) La primera es borrar de las conciencias la noción de lo justo y lo injusto (…) Cuando la Ley y la Moral están en contradicción, el ciudadano se encuentra en la cruel alternativa de perder la noción de Moral o el respeto a la Ley; calamidades a cual más grandes, y entre las cuales es imposible elegir (…) Es tan propio de la naturaleza de la Ley el hacer reinar la Justicia, que Ley y Justicia son una cosa misma en la mente de las masas (…) Todos sentimos una gran disposición a considerar lo legal como cosa legítima, hasta tal punto que son muchos los que equivocadamente quieren que toda justicia sea una derivación de la Ley (…) Basta, pues, con que la Ley ordene y sancione el despojo para que el despojo parezca justo y sagrado a muchos hombres (…) No puede existir sociedad alguna sin el respeto más o menos profundo a las leyes; pero la condición más segura de que las leyes sean respetadas es que sean respetables».
December 17, 2022
Tower of Basel: The Inside Story of the Central Bankers' Secret Bank is a book by Adam LeBor, a British journalist and author. The book was published in 2013 and it is an investigation of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an international financial organization based in Basel, Switzerland.
In Tower of Basel, LeBor examines the history and role of the BIS, which is often referred to as the "central bankers' bank" because it serves as a forum for central banks from around the world to discuss monetary policy and other financial matters. He also discusses the organization's controversial role in the global financial system, including its involvement in the financial crisis of the late 2000s.
Tower of Basel is a thought-provoking and informative work that is of interest to students and scholars of finance, economics, and the history of international relations. It provides valuable insights into the inner workings of the global financial system and the role of the BIS in shaping financial policy.
GPT
In Tower of Basel, LeBor examines the history and role of the BIS, which is often referred to as the "central bankers' bank" because it serves as a forum for central banks from around the world to discuss monetary policy and other financial matters. He also discusses the organization's controversial role in the global financial system, including its involvement in the financial crisis of the late 2000s.
Tower of Basel is a thought-provoking and informative work that is of interest to students and scholars of finance, economics, and the history of international relations. It provides valuable insights into the inner workings of the global financial system and the role of the BIS in shaping financial policy.
GPT
June 12, 2017
To start a book about banking, central banking and the mother of all banking privileges, the BIS; and not to study how banking works, not to explain where money comes, how credit is issued, fractional reserve lending and central banks and deficit spending.... The author basically reveals something about something he does not appear to understand and the reader will also not understand.
And he is against the bank because it is not democratic and transparent...because it does not promote enough inflation that the author thinks will create growth... He really does not understand what we is speaking about.
The BIS and central banking should be abolished !!
I gave it 2 stars for the actual useful historical information he provided.
And he is against the bank because it is not democratic and transparent...because it does not promote enough inflation that the author thinks will create growth... He really does not understand what we is speaking about.
The BIS and central banking should be abolished !!
I gave it 2 stars for the actual useful historical information he provided.
May 9, 2018
I've marked this book as read but in fact I only made it about half-way through. Adam LeBor may be a much lauded British author, novelist and journalist but he makes no attempt to understand the deeper forces at work in international finance which the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) oversees. The book may purport be an an "inside story" of BIS but it is not. LeBor is clearly a darling of the establishment and is careful not to step on the toes of those who coddle him and who could kick him off his comfortable mainstream perch if he caused offence.
August 19, 2021
Author: Adam Lebor, Pages: 314; Publication Date: Mayo 28, 2013
In summary:
A recommended book, which sheds some light on the BIS, Bank of International Settlements; one of the most opaque, unknown institutions whose operations are kept as secret as possible, but whose influence on banking policy, monetary and financial is immense. As a button shows: the Basel I, II, and III Accords that are being implemented and that regulate all financial and monetary operations of all types of banks worldwide, were designed by the BIS
In detail:
The author's intention is for the book to be an exposé on the BIS and its immense influence on the design of the present and future banking, monetary and financial policy at a global level; but in the end, it only manages to be a book that deals with the origin and history to date of the BIS, which is the Bank of the Central Banks of the great powers (the G10 and other invited Central Banks).
From the historical point of view, the book is sincerely fascinating, from the origin of the bank and throughout the WWII period, the text of the book develops as a historical spy novel of WWII, mentioning with first and last names, historical characters both the CIA and MI5, whom he portrays in small biographies as well as the different Directors and Chairmen of the BIS and their interactions during the War years
From the author's point of view, the BIS is an amoral and spurious institution since during WWII it collaborated with Nazism and allowed the 3rd Reicht access to capital markets, to finance its war machine with all the associated atrocities, as well as a safe place to deposit and safeguard all the gold and cash that was seized during the Nazi occupation during WWII. However, the author also points out that the BIS was one of the first institutions that anticipated the fall of Hitler with years of advantage, from that point it became an agent and collaborator of the allied powers and was one of the financial pillars in the recovery of post-war Europe
The author also criticizes and points out the contradiction that the BIS, to date, has as partners the Central Banks of the G10 economies and whose capital is of public origin (the deposits of the Central Banks) and that its officials are public servants (they are the Governors and General Managers of the Central Banks of the member countries) and that nevertheless neither the president of the board, nor any of the members of the senior management of the BIS have any obligation to render accounts to any of their governments' members, nor does the BIS have to report any of its transactions to any of the member governments, be it the president or their parliaments, and that their assets are protected by international agreements, which ensures that they will never suffer seizure by the system of justice of any of its member states
From the above, the author's view is that the fundamental problem of the BIS is a political institution that hides as a "technical body" to avoid the political control to which it must be subject given its influence and the assets it manages.
The author strongly criticizes the fact that an institution led by a group of technocrats has so much influence over the financial destiny of so many democracies and that its decisions are not subject to any criticism, control, or accountability nor are they subject to any political or judicial control of democracies that are affected by its decisions and raises, in a weak and superficial way, some actions that the BIS and the member democracies of the BIS should take to provide greater transparency and accountability.
On a personal level, I must point out that the author's criticism on the topics of transparency and accountability of the BIS with respect to member governments comes from a well-intentioned sense of balance of powers in developed democracies and only that; since he does not provide any example showing that the decisions and recommendations of the BIS have produced monetary, fiscal or banking crises, except perhaps the strict zeal for austerity policies in the Eurozone but absolutely nothing else. The author even points out that the financial crisis of 2008 was announced by the BIS in advance, as well as the monetary crisis in Asia in the 90s, and that its recommendations were ignored; this reinforces the idea that these unelected technocrats who do not answer to anyone know what they are talking about, above politicians and members of parliament who, either by action or omission, let those crises to rage on unchecked until was too late.
Being a citizen of Ecuador and having experienced personally and several times in my lifetime, what happens when a government, has total control over the Central Bank and over the banking, monetary and financial policy, without any counterweight from any political or technical institution; I would prefer an opaque institution that is right, to a politician that is transparent but leads us to disaster... South America has a long history of politicians in control of public finances and ignored technocrats, and it is a history of great poverty, misery, and political instability
In the end, a highly recommended book; do not expect to find a master class in international finance or monetary policy, that is not the author's intent. It is a historical and semi-biographical book from which each reader will draw their own conclusions about whether the BIS should exist or not.
In summary:
A recommended book, which sheds some light on the BIS, Bank of International Settlements; one of the most opaque, unknown institutions whose operations are kept as secret as possible, but whose influence on banking policy, monetary and financial is immense. As a button shows: the Basel I, II, and III Accords that are being implemented and that regulate all financial and monetary operations of all types of banks worldwide, were designed by the BIS
In detail:
The author's intention is for the book to be an exposé on the BIS and its immense influence on the design of the present and future banking, monetary and financial policy at a global level; but in the end, it only manages to be a book that deals with the origin and history to date of the BIS, which is the Bank of the Central Banks of the great powers (the G10 and other invited Central Banks).
From the historical point of view, the book is sincerely fascinating, from the origin of the bank and throughout the WWII period, the text of the book develops as a historical spy novel of WWII, mentioning with first and last names, historical characters both the CIA and MI5, whom he portrays in small biographies as well as the different Directors and Chairmen of the BIS and their interactions during the War years
From the author's point of view, the BIS is an amoral and spurious institution since during WWII it collaborated with Nazism and allowed the 3rd Reicht access to capital markets, to finance its war machine with all the associated atrocities, as well as a safe place to deposit and safeguard all the gold and cash that was seized during the Nazi occupation during WWII. However, the author also points out that the BIS was one of the first institutions that anticipated the fall of Hitler with years of advantage, from that point it became an agent and collaborator of the allied powers and was one of the financial pillars in the recovery of post-war Europe
The author also criticizes and points out the contradiction that the BIS, to date, has as partners the Central Banks of the G10 economies and whose capital is of public origin (the deposits of the Central Banks) and that its officials are public servants (they are the Governors and General Managers of the Central Banks of the member countries) and that nevertheless neither the president of the board, nor any of the members of the senior management of the BIS have any obligation to render accounts to any of their governments' members, nor does the BIS have to report any of its transactions to any of the member governments, be it the president or their parliaments, and that their assets are protected by international agreements, which ensures that they will never suffer seizure by the system of justice of any of its member states
From the above, the author's view is that the fundamental problem of the BIS is a political institution that hides as a "technical body" to avoid the political control to which it must be subject given its influence and the assets it manages.
The author strongly criticizes the fact that an institution led by a group of technocrats has so much influence over the financial destiny of so many democracies and that its decisions are not subject to any criticism, control, or accountability nor are they subject to any political or judicial control of democracies that are affected by its decisions and raises, in a weak and superficial way, some actions that the BIS and the member democracies of the BIS should take to provide greater transparency and accountability.
On a personal level, I must point out that the author's criticism on the topics of transparency and accountability of the BIS with respect to member governments comes from a well-intentioned sense of balance of powers in developed democracies and only that; since he does not provide any example showing that the decisions and recommendations of the BIS have produced monetary, fiscal or banking crises, except perhaps the strict zeal for austerity policies in the Eurozone but absolutely nothing else. The author even points out that the financial crisis of 2008 was announced by the BIS in advance, as well as the monetary crisis in Asia in the 90s, and that its recommendations were ignored; this reinforces the idea that these unelected technocrats who do not answer to anyone know what they are talking about, above politicians and members of parliament who, either by action or omission, let those crises to rage on unchecked until was too late.
Being a citizen of Ecuador and having experienced personally and several times in my lifetime, what happens when a government, has total control over the Central Bank and over the banking, monetary and financial policy, without any counterweight from any political or technical institution; I would prefer an opaque institution that is right, to a politician that is transparent but leads us to disaster... South America has a long history of politicians in control of public finances and ignored technocrats, and it is a history of great poverty, misery, and political instability
In the end, a highly recommended book; do not expect to find a master class in international finance or monetary policy, that is not the author's intent. It is a historical and semi-biographical book from which each reader will draw their own conclusions about whether the BIS should exist or not.
May 11, 2014
Brilliant evidence of super power that really rules the world. This is not a conspiracy theory.
March 24, 2017
Sheds light on an opaque but powerful institution
February 8, 2020
Despite the rather sensational blurb, Tower of Basel manages to be a somewhat clear-headed expose of the somewhat obscure but highly influential Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
The BIS is one of those unknown international institutions that no one seems to really know about. Yet, it has played a subtly significant role in shaping the international financial and regulatory landscape of the post WWII world. It is a bank owned by central banks, that performs financial services for these banks. It is a forum where central bankers the world over meet for sumptuous dinners, play golf with each other, and swap stories, all in the utmost discretion.
In the book, Lebor lays out the surprisingly engaging history of the BIS, from its origins as an institution for facilitating German reparations after WWI, to the pivotal role it played in European integration and monetary union and its growth into a global financial institution and a hub of research and analysis.
But an institution like the BIS is no stranger to skeletons in the closet. Lebor goes into quite some detail about how the BIS became a tool for the Nazi-controlled Reichsbank. It authorised the transfer of BIS' holdings of Czechoslovakia's gold reserves to the Nazi coffers after the former's annexation by the latter. During the war, it accepted looted gold from the Nazis as a form of payment for the latter's debt obligations under the Young Plan.
After the war, the Bretton Woods Conference recommended that BIS be liquidated, but it survived this existential crisis and went on to shape itself to the needs of the postwar financial world. Over the ensuing decades, it built up a name and reputation for itself as a respected nexus for financial regulators and played a part in setting international financial regulations, all in the name of monetary stability. The BIS pushed strongly for European integration and the formation of a monetary union under a single currency. During the Eurozone crisis, the BIS holds partial responsibility for coordinating the tough austerity measures that some argue have made the crisis worse.
As an institution, the BIS is simultaneously a private bank and an outsized influence on financial systems and regulatory frameworks. This opens up manifold opportunities for conflicts of interest between its two roles - as a profit maximizer and as a regulator. Protected by a swathe of legal immunities and enjoying the patronage of powerful central banks, the BIS has considerable regulatory fiat, unencumbered by democratic accountability.
These are the qualities with which Lebor takes issue. From Lebor's perspective, the BIS' non-transparent, anti-democratic, and elitist nature has no place in the 21st century. After the 2008 financial crisis, with calls to break up large unwieldy banks with too much buying power, the BIS' looming presence seems even more of an anachronism, vesting disproportionate amounts of influence on global markets in the hands of a few powerful and well-fed men.
In making this case, Lebor points to the various indiscretions that the BIS perpetrated with respect to its actions in World War 2, which were in part made possible by its legally protected, supranational nature. He also points to the tottering European integration project, spearheaded by the BIS, as emblematic of the split incentives of the bank - that the bank, influenced by certain factions within it, would push for financial regulatory arrangements in the Eurozone that would favor certain countries over others.
An interesting perspective that is introduced in the book is the notion of Nazi leadership continuity in the German financial sphere following the war, exemplified by the likes of Karl Blessing and Herman Abs, former Nazi party members who took up influential leadership positions in Germany after the war. Lebor's implication that the essential German realpolitik imperatives have not really changed with respect to Europe, and that it pushed, through the BIS, the notion of European integration at least partly for self-serving ends - the creation of a large European market to service German exports.
I don't know enough about the historical literature to make comments about the positioning of Lebor's allegations on European integration and the role of the BIS in the post-war regime. But I can say that Lebor has written here an intriguing and perhaps contentious tract, one that makes substantive comments about a secretive and unaccountable institution, but in doing so, does not descend into polemics. If anything, reading it has been an edifying introduction into a little-known part of the international network of institutions.
I give this work: 4 out of 5 gold standards
The BIS is one of those unknown international institutions that no one seems to really know about. Yet, it has played a subtly significant role in shaping the international financial and regulatory landscape of the post WWII world. It is a bank owned by central banks, that performs financial services for these banks. It is a forum where central bankers the world over meet for sumptuous dinners, play golf with each other, and swap stories, all in the utmost discretion.
In the book, Lebor lays out the surprisingly engaging history of the BIS, from its origins as an institution for facilitating German reparations after WWI, to the pivotal role it played in European integration and monetary union and its growth into a global financial institution and a hub of research and analysis.
But an institution like the BIS is no stranger to skeletons in the closet. Lebor goes into quite some detail about how the BIS became a tool for the Nazi-controlled Reichsbank. It authorised the transfer of BIS' holdings of Czechoslovakia's gold reserves to the Nazi coffers after the former's annexation by the latter. During the war, it accepted looted gold from the Nazis as a form of payment for the latter's debt obligations under the Young Plan.
After the war, the Bretton Woods Conference recommended that BIS be liquidated, but it survived this existential crisis and went on to shape itself to the needs of the postwar financial world. Over the ensuing decades, it built up a name and reputation for itself as a respected nexus for financial regulators and played a part in setting international financial regulations, all in the name of monetary stability. The BIS pushed strongly for European integration and the formation of a monetary union under a single currency. During the Eurozone crisis, the BIS holds partial responsibility for coordinating the tough austerity measures that some argue have made the crisis worse.
As an institution, the BIS is simultaneously a private bank and an outsized influence on financial systems and regulatory frameworks. This opens up manifold opportunities for conflicts of interest between its two roles - as a profit maximizer and as a regulator. Protected by a swathe of legal immunities and enjoying the patronage of powerful central banks, the BIS has considerable regulatory fiat, unencumbered by democratic accountability.
These are the qualities with which Lebor takes issue. From Lebor's perspective, the BIS' non-transparent, anti-democratic, and elitist nature has no place in the 21st century. After the 2008 financial crisis, with calls to break up large unwieldy banks with too much buying power, the BIS' looming presence seems even more of an anachronism, vesting disproportionate amounts of influence on global markets in the hands of a few powerful and well-fed men.
In making this case, Lebor points to the various indiscretions that the BIS perpetrated with respect to its actions in World War 2, which were in part made possible by its legally protected, supranational nature. He also points to the tottering European integration project, spearheaded by the BIS, as emblematic of the split incentives of the bank - that the bank, influenced by certain factions within it, would push for financial regulatory arrangements in the Eurozone that would favor certain countries over others.
An interesting perspective that is introduced in the book is the notion of Nazi leadership continuity in the German financial sphere following the war, exemplified by the likes of Karl Blessing and Herman Abs, former Nazi party members who took up influential leadership positions in Germany after the war. Lebor's implication that the essential German realpolitik imperatives have not really changed with respect to Europe, and that it pushed, through the BIS, the notion of European integration at least partly for self-serving ends - the creation of a large European market to service German exports.
I don't know enough about the historical literature to make comments about the positioning of Lebor's allegations on European integration and the role of the BIS in the post-war regime. But I can say that Lebor has written here an intriguing and perhaps contentious tract, one that makes substantive comments about a secretive and unaccountable institution, but in doing so, does not descend into polemics. If anything, reading it has been an edifying introduction into a little-known part of the international network of institutions.
I give this work: 4 out of 5 gold standards
March 2, 2018
3,5*
O livro persegue um estilo semelhante ao jornalismo de investigação (Adam Lebor é jornalista) sobre as origens e primeiras décadas do BIS, uma instituição bancária criada sob o pretexto da gestão do pagamento das reparações de guerra da Alemanha decorrentes da Iª Guerra Mundial, mas que rapidamente se tornou num pivot estratégico para a articulação transnacional das políticas monetárias de vários estados, mesmo, e sobretudo, em tempo de guerra, tendo tido um papel determinante no construção económica do III Reich.
Para quem pouco conhece sobre a natureza das relações políticas e económicas entre os EUA, a Alemanha e Reino Unido antes e durante a IIª Guerra Mundial, poderá surgir como algo surpreendente (até chocante) perceber que uma "boa guerra" é aquela que permite manter, ou ampliar, as vantagens económicas de parcerias já existentes.
A natureza peculiar desta instituição foi-se transformando, foi berço do Euro, até se consolidar naquilo que é hoje: uma incrivelmente discreta Instituição supranacional que é um fórum de articulação de políticas monetárias e regulação bancária, um altamente especializado centro de investigação econométrico, em apoio aos Bancos Centrais. Não toma decisões mas é lá onde se moldam futuras decisões, com implicações profundas na economia mundial.
O relativo desconhecimento público somado à discrição institucional resvala facilmente para acusações de secretismo e teorias da conspiração, ao que não ajuda, em nada, o seu estatuto de absoluta independência e ausência de responsabilização.
Honra seja feita a Lebor, apesar de algo crítico à génese e primeiros anos do BIS, o livro não se reduz a um exercício de diabolização do Nazismo, não perdendo o seu foco, no entanto fica-se com a sensação que poderia ser algo muito maior se tivesse abordado em maior profundidade e amplitude, o papel quase híbrido dos EUA neste complexo contexto. Nesse sentido, valerá a pena ler algumas das referências que serviram de base ao seu trabalho. Leitura simples e bem estruturado. A ler.
O livro persegue um estilo semelhante ao jornalismo de investigação (Adam Lebor é jornalista) sobre as origens e primeiras décadas do BIS, uma instituição bancária criada sob o pretexto da gestão do pagamento das reparações de guerra da Alemanha decorrentes da Iª Guerra Mundial, mas que rapidamente se tornou num pivot estratégico para a articulação transnacional das políticas monetárias de vários estados, mesmo, e sobretudo, em tempo de guerra, tendo tido um papel determinante no construção económica do III Reich.
Para quem pouco conhece sobre a natureza das relações políticas e económicas entre os EUA, a Alemanha e Reino Unido antes e durante a IIª Guerra Mundial, poderá surgir como algo surpreendente (até chocante) perceber que uma "boa guerra" é aquela que permite manter, ou ampliar, as vantagens económicas de parcerias já existentes.
A natureza peculiar desta instituição foi-se transformando, foi berço do Euro, até se consolidar naquilo que é hoje: uma incrivelmente discreta Instituição supranacional que é um fórum de articulação de políticas monetárias e regulação bancária, um altamente especializado centro de investigação econométrico, em apoio aos Bancos Centrais. Não toma decisões mas é lá onde se moldam futuras decisões, com implicações profundas na economia mundial.
O relativo desconhecimento público somado à discrição institucional resvala facilmente para acusações de secretismo e teorias da conspiração, ao que não ajuda, em nada, o seu estatuto de absoluta independência e ausência de responsabilização.
Honra seja feita a Lebor, apesar de algo crítico à génese e primeiros anos do BIS, o livro não se reduz a um exercício de diabolização do Nazismo, não perdendo o seu foco, no entanto fica-se com a sensação que poderia ser algo muito maior se tivesse abordado em maior profundidade e amplitude, o papel quase híbrido dos EUA neste complexo contexto. Nesse sentido, valerá a pena ler algumas das referências que serviram de base ao seu trabalho. Leitura simples e bem estruturado. A ler.
November 18, 2019
Podemos partir, recordando que la historia, es una parte o una visión parcial de los hechos, que muchas veces depende de la traducción de los demás y del autor, con grandes complejidades y variables de por medio, donde solo se puede observar las evidencias y tendencias, y donde muchas veces nos equivocaremos en la realidad completa.
La obra de LeBor es entretenida en la mayoría de sus capítulos, a veces tediosa porque el tema en general así lo es (aunque no por menos importante), pero en cuanto a la investigación y argumentos, podría decirse que otorga información interesante. Un libro, entretenido e interesante, así podría resumirlo.
Desde hace tiempo, intelectuales y estudiosos de las estructuras humanas, económicas y sociales, han puesto en evidencia y advertido sobre el gran poder que los poderes del mundo tienen (sobre todo la industria financiera), donde rigen a las personas, con políticas, como las de austeridad, donde los tomadores no son parte de las consecuencias...sin conocer las vidas que se pierden o el reflecto social, al cual las grandes esferas no pertenecen. Esferas elitistas, opacas e inflexibles que con la pluma en la mano o la computadora, generan estrategias operantes exitosas, pero humanamente desastrosas.
Es conveniente contrastar esta información para generar criterio, en la búsqueda honesta de la verdad y del bien, objetivo y subjetivo.
El libro, no es una herramienta fundamental, pero sí, una lectura cuando menos curiosa que otorga ciertas luces, que a los estudiosos de las personas, no se nos hacen lejanas o poco realistas del comportamiento humano, pero conviene recordar, solo son tendencias...y una parte, tal vez pequeña de la realidad.
La obra de LeBor es entretenida en la mayoría de sus capítulos, a veces tediosa porque el tema en general así lo es (aunque no por menos importante), pero en cuanto a la investigación y argumentos, podría decirse que otorga información interesante. Un libro, entretenido e interesante, así podría resumirlo.
Desde hace tiempo, intelectuales y estudiosos de las estructuras humanas, económicas y sociales, han puesto en evidencia y advertido sobre el gran poder que los poderes del mundo tienen (sobre todo la industria financiera), donde rigen a las personas, con políticas, como las de austeridad, donde los tomadores no son parte de las consecuencias...sin conocer las vidas que se pierden o el reflecto social, al cual las grandes esferas no pertenecen. Esferas elitistas, opacas e inflexibles que con la pluma en la mano o la computadora, generan estrategias operantes exitosas, pero humanamente desastrosas.
Es conveniente contrastar esta información para generar criterio, en la búsqueda honesta de la verdad y del bien, objetivo y subjetivo.
El libro, no es una herramienta fundamental, pero sí, una lectura cuando menos curiosa que otorga ciertas luces, que a los estudiosos de las personas, no se nos hacen lejanas o poco realistas del comportamiento humano, pero conviene recordar, solo son tendencias...y una parte, tal vez pequeña de la realidad.
August 12, 2017
Reading this book was a little frustrating. LeBor has two main arguments against the Bank of International Settlements (BIS): their cooperation with, and wealth gained through, Nazi Germany during WWII, and the current secrecy of its operation. While the first argument makes for a more serious moral criticism, it is also irrelevant and weakens the criticism of the BIS of our times. So while I would have prefer he stick to his second argument and flesh out the problems with the secrecy of a bank that does not actually make enforceable policy decisions, LeBor does the opposite and focuses on its past sins. I am not saying this were not serious crimes but unless we are able to go back in time to address them, there is little point in lobbing them against the BIS. Because of this decision, the amount of space devoted to the problems of unaccountability and deliberate opacity – the more relevant and fixable problems – are left unexplored fully. In the end, LeBor manages to make a great book about the collusion between the premier transnational financial institution of the day and the Nazi regime before, during and immediately after WWII while occasionally criticizing its current secrecy and unaccountability.
May 29, 2019
Aquí está uno de los mejores libros que he leído en cuanto a la documentación del proceso de evolución del sistema financiero de Europa. Se hizo a puertas cerradas, sin decisión democrática, sin consultas, sin tener en cuenta las catástrofes políticas...en fin, es la historia -excelentemente documentada- de Banco Internacional de Pagos o BIS en inglés, un banco que uno dice bueno pero hicieron cosas muy chungas por Europa pero lo que no te cuentan es que trabajaron con Dios y con el diablo para sobrevivir.
Al leer y avanzar, Adam en ningún momento pone interpretaciones de las cosas sino que cada palabra escrita respeta el proceso histórico que vivió la institución y Europa en sí. Para un autor y en un tema como este debe ser dificil no poner su opinión y aquí no lo colocó Y SI LO HIZO, aclaraba desde el principio.
El BIS es uno de esos institutos que no le gusta la luz, no le gusta mucho la transparencia ni la opinión pública. Este libro te enseñará como se forjó el Euro a puertas cerradas y de como esta organización se las tomó con una palabra clave: responsabilidad.
Al leer y avanzar, Adam en ningún momento pone interpretaciones de las cosas sino que cada palabra escrita respeta el proceso histórico que vivió la institución y Europa en sí. Para un autor y en un tema como este debe ser dificil no poner su opinión y aquí no lo colocó Y SI LO HIZO, aclaraba desde el principio.
El BIS es uno de esos institutos que no le gusta la luz, no le gusta mucho la transparencia ni la opinión pública. Este libro te enseñará como se forjó el Euro a puertas cerradas y de como esta organización se las tomó con una palabra clave: responsabilidad.
July 14, 2021
I've actually never heard of the Bank of International Settlements before this book... shame on me. It started off really intriguingly but I'm not sure what I really learnt, other than the fact that BIS was originally set up to manage the reparation payments by Germany after WWI, played an instrumental part in the Nazi regime, is the secret and highly political playground for a tight circle of finance professionals and governments, and to this day remains extremely opaque. Last but not least it is the genesis of the existence of the ECB as well as the creation of the euro. The book is heavily focused on BIS's role during Nazi and has extensive recounting of the people involved and their interactions surrounding this organization. I wish however there were more information on the post-Nazi period - the story fell off a cliff as those decades were read neither descriptive nor informative.
March 25, 2020
The history of a bank I had never heard of.
High finance, intrigue, and nazis: this book tells the story of a bank that has successfully played both sides since its inception in 1930 and the impact it has had on our world today.
Part history, part damning critique, Tower of Basel is a must read for anyone seeking to understand how the global financial system got to be how it is.
My main criticism is, based on the condemnation piled on the BIS, the authors call for reform at the end of the book seems like, at best, a fantasy.
High finance, intrigue, and nazis: this book tells the story of a bank that has successfully played both sides since its inception in 1930 and the impact it has had on our world today.
Part history, part damning critique, Tower of Basel is a must read for anyone seeking to understand how the global financial system got to be how it is.
My main criticism is, based on the condemnation piled on the BIS, the authors call for reform at the end of the book seems like, at best, a fantasy.
September 25, 2020
This was a really eye-opening read, and I think it was fair and informative about matters most people don't realise happen behind closed doors, which matters affect their daily lives in ways more immediately important than what governments decide with such paint-dryingly slow speeds, usually just for their names to be written in History rather than to make life better for all. It would be great if we could know what the years since 2013 have brought. Here's hoping future editions can include more transparently offered details.
June 3, 2019
For me the ���Tower of Basel” provided more evidence and a brief history of one bank that illustrates how secrecy and operating beyond the law (legally done) most banks of this kind operate. For example the Federal Reserve of the United States operates in the similar ways even by its very name of Federal Reserve of the United States-giving the impression that it is run by government employees instead of private bankers.
February 12, 2021
Adam LeBor confirms my 15 years of researching "who owns the world", by divulging that the globe's Central Banksters meet every other Sunday in Basel, Switzerland in Mount Everest type secrecy, to determine their next move to further annihilate the entire world's economy permanently.
It's all about their ultra narcissism and Satanic control of humankind.
I highly recommend this book to all non-conspiracy theory readers.
Albert Garcia
It's all about their ultra narcissism and Satanic control of humankind.
I highly recommend this book to all non-conspiracy theory readers.
Albert Garcia
January 2, 2023
What a terrific insight into just who runs the world economy...it's the Central Bankers' bank. A cosy club of central bankers who appoint themselves, are completely unaccountable, have no oversight and are not answerable to any legal jurisdiction.
This is a terrific book, it not more than a little disconcerting.
A reminder that there is a small group of individuals who 'run' the world economy that are unelected and determine everything about the world of finance...=
This is a terrific book, it not more than a little disconcerting.
A reminder that there is a small group of individuals who 'run' the world economy that are unelected and determine everything about the world of finance...=
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