Meltdown

This is more than a richly detailed story about the hubris, corruption, and incompetence that doomed Credit Suisse; it's a stark warning to all of us about what happens when we let bankers do what they like. For centuries, Swiss banks have served the globe's wealthiest individuals, employing a strict culture of anonymity and gaining massive wealth in the process. But when Credit Suisse collapsed, the veil of secrecy came down, and the world was suddenly privy to the corruption, scandal, and empty hubris that keep our biggest banks alive.

It was a 166-year-old bastion of Swiss banking, among the most important and influential financial institutions in the world, but a veneer of high-class service disguised a darker, dirtier reality. From its sterile Zurich headquarters, the bank catered to a clientele that included dictators, drug dealers, and former Nazi officers, and helped fleece its own clients out of billions of dollars. This continued for decades, even as Credit Suisse expanded, acquiring smaller banks and granting its own executives lucrative bonus contracts.

Meltdown is the story of how the house of cards fell apart. Bloomberg investigative journalist and bestselling author Duncan Mavin takes readers inside the bank's hushed marble corridors, detailing its secretive culture and the series of increasingly selfish decisions made by a handful of men at the top, which ultimately led to disaster. This is the fascinating history of one of the biggest financial institutions of our times and a thrilling exposé of the wider financial services sector, which promises to give readers a shocking and brutally honest look into a previously unknown world of greed, lies, and unrelenting human ambition.

"A riveting autopsy of how one of banking's titans gradually, then suddenly, crumbled under the weight of its own misdeeds.".