Rogue Traders - by Scott E D Skyrm (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"The world changed in some fundamental ways, and most of us were not on top of it. We were almost dragged into the modern world." -John Gutfreund, former CEO of Salomon Brothers

Beginning in the 1980's, it was not uncommon to find that a freshly-hired trainee-a kid literally right out of college-knew more about the new financial instruments than the CEO of the firm that hired him. In some instances, the kids were learning about the finer points of newly-invented instruments before their managers knew they even existed. These were the new breed of traders scattered across the trading desks.

The individuals whose stories compose the contents of this book are some of the smartest people you'll ever read about. They had an intimate understanding of the markets and how best to make money from them, but they also had an equally in-depth knowledge of some of the flaws in the markets. Or sometimes, flaws in the systems at the banks themselves. They used their knowledge to make money. And when that failed, they often used their knowledge of how the system was structured to hide their losses. And when that failed, there was no turning back.

"Skyrm makes complex financial scenarios accessible to all interested readers in an informative and entertaining manner..." -Thomas Peterffy, Chairman, CEO, and President of Interactive Brokers

David Heuwetter and Drysdale, 1982 Howard Rubin and Merrill Lynch, 1987 Joe Jett and Kidder Peabody, 1994 Nick Leeson and Baring Brothers, 1995 Brian Hunter and Amaranth, 2006 Jérôme Kerviel and Société Générale, 2008 Thomas Hayes, RBS, UBS, and Citigroup, 2009