Better Bankers, Better Banks

Taking risks is a valid part of the business banks do, but Claire Hill and Richard Painter, both prominent experts on banking law and behavior, point out that it's not really clear where the line is between appropriate and irresponsible. Starting with an expertly curated collection of the most poignant examples of bankers gone wild, "Restoring Responsibility in Banking" presents an accessible history of banking in the past few decades and shows exactly how banks became such risk-takers--and how they started creating and investing in dangerously complex securities. Hill and Painter then delve into banker behavior, going beyond just a simple pursuit of money, and look into the culture, need for status, and other factors that contribute to how success is defined in banking. They show how the most effective solution is for banks to give individual employees more personal liability for the risks taken by the bank as a whole, and they step back and say that, actually, greed is not good, and there's no reason the entire culture of an industry should ride on it. "Restoring Responsibility in Banking "is a refreshing yet authoritative call for banks to return to the idea that theirs is a noble profession that serves society as well as themselves.