Wiley Europe News Room

Frozen Assets: How I Lived Iceland’s Boom and Bust by Armann Thorvaldsson

Rachel Shand — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:27:12 +0100

Frozen Assets: How I Lived Iceland’s Boom and Bust
by Armann Thorvaldsson

Iceland truly lived the boom and bust. Once a tiny country on the edge of Europe, in less than two decades it became a global financial powerhouse.

Frozen Assets: How I Lived Iceland’s Boom and Bust, is the story of how one man, one bank and one country experienced and affected the course of world economic history. Armann Thorvaldsson, a former CEO at Kaupthing bank, tells the story of how his company was transformed into a £6 billion international bank, by far the largest in his country’s history. Helping to build the biggest name in Icelandic venture capital, Thorvaldsson represented the money behind such household names as Easyjet, JJB Sports, Hamleys and Karen Millen.

From the mid-1990s onwards, Iceland rose from being a tiny country, on the edge of Europe and even further from the financial and business world, to a much-talked about source of power, involved with some of the biggest companies in European and global business. These banks were powered on by a new generation of Icelandic MBA graduates, unhampered by older colleagues or any experience of boom and bust economics.

As the boom got bigger, the Icelandic bankers worked hard and played even harder with their international clients, including Gordon Ramsay, Tom Hunter, Mike Ashley and Philip Green. Moving from Reykjavik to London, Monte Carlo and Las Vegas, they seemed unstoppable.

The banks at the centre of this rise were Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir. Companies including the Baugur group (which owned Hamleys, House of Fraser, Iceland, Booker and Karen Millen) were often discussed in the media relating to the seemingly miraculous role of Icelandic finance in allowing them to grow.

In early 2008, analysts were beginning to rate these banks as highly risky. In October 2008, as the global financial system began to collapse, and all three Icelandic banks went into administration. This caused millions of UK savers, companies, local authorities and charities to lose millions overnight, creating real international tension between the UK and Iceland, with Gordon Brown describing Iceland’s actions as ‘effectively illegal’ and using anti-terror legislation to freeze Icelandic assets in the UK.
In early 2008, analysts were beginning to rate these banks as highly risky. In October 2008, as the global financial system began to collapse, and all three Icelandic banks went into administration.

Thorvaldsson’s reflections on exactly what happened and why make compelling reading.

About the author:
Armann Thorvaldsson saw the rise and fall of Iceland from the inside.
He is the former CEO of Kaupthing, Singer, Friedlander, the UK branch of the Icelandic Kaupthing Branch. With a degree in history from the University of Iceland, and an MBA from Boston University, he arrived at Kaupthing in 1194, aged 26, and spent 14 years at the heart of the Icelandic financial and business world.

In his role at Kaupthing, he advised and financed nearly all the major Icelandic business moguls, and was key to setting up relationships with high profile international clients – working closely with huge business names including Philip Green, Gordon Ramsay, Karen Millen and Tom Hunter.

For further information or to request a review copy, please contact Emma Knott on
01243 770305 or email eknott@wiley.com

Frozen Assets: How I Lived Iceland’s Boom and Bust to be published by Wiley
October 2009, ISBN: 9780470749548, £16.99, Hardback

Madoff With The Money by Jerry Oppenheimer

Rachel Shand — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:57:32 +0100

MADOFF WITH THE MONEY
by Jerry Oppenheimer

How could someone described as a ‘stand-up’ guy and a ‘generous boss’ who engendered trust through his motto, “the owner’s name is on the door,” mastermind one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history? Bernie Madoff had an unremarkable past and, by all accounts, limited ability. So, what strange convergence of personality and circumstance created the most vilified and despised crook ever, who cheated thousands of people out of billions without blinking an eye? The questions, the media speculation and the global fascination with Bernie Madoff grow each day. A new book by New York Times bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer, reveals the true story of the man behind the scam in Madoff with the Money

Oppenheimer, known for digging deep to find the real answers in the lives of American icons –Martha Stewart, Bill and Hillary Clinton to name a few, exposes Madoff, the con man with original reporting and dozens of exclusive interviews and revelations.

Through his in-depth reporting, readers will become familiar with the trusting victims, ranging from relatives, employees, non-profit Jewish charities to the likes of seemingly sophisticated individuals such as actress Jane Fonda who would "like to shake Madoff until his teeth fall out," Kevin Bacon who only lost part of his money, and New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Other exclusive disclosures in Madoff with the Money include:
• How Madoff is part of a family tradition of spurious trading practices. Both his mother and father had run-ins with the US Securities and Exchange Commission when Bernie was just a boy
• That he was an obsessive-compulsive who could be found cleaning his offices at all hours of the day
• How he robbed Uncle Sam out of two years of Vietnam War-era Army Reserve active duty by developing a case of ‘nervous from the service,” and ulcer
• How he treated his attorney brother like an office boy
• That he was a serial Casanova caught by his wife Ruth and allegedly had to pay out “hush money” to at least one female employee
• That one of his early Wall Street mentors reputedly had close ties to the Chicago Mob – ‘the genesis of Bernie’s career.’

Ruth Madoff’s father was the source of many of Bernie’s early investors and Ruth, a mathematics whizz, was a key employee in the early days of the firm. Ruth kept the books; Bernie did not know numbers. In later years, Ruth was a big spender who kept a tight leash on her childhood sweetheart because of his philandering. Together, Oppenheimer says, she and Bernie are the most controversial couple since Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and as infamous as Bonnie and Clyde.

Oppenheimer dedicates this book to the legitimate victims of Bernie Madoff and his scheme. Readers can judge for themselves the breadth and scope of the swindle, and appreciate the rancor of its victims.

For further information or to request a review copy, please contact:

Emma Knott
email eknott@wiley.com

To buy a copy of the book click here

To see a press release for Jerry Oppenheimer's other book Toy Monster, click here

Madoff with the Money,
to be published by Wiley on 21st September 2009

ISBN: 9780470504987, £16.99, Hardback

Day One Trader – A Liffe Story

Rachel Shand — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:15:00 +0100

Day One Trader – A Liffe Story
by John Sussex

Day One Trader – A Liffe Story: is a powerful, brutally honest autobiographical account of a Liffe trader, John Sussex and the events and people that shaped one of the most exciting periods in trading history - from open outcry to screen trading at the Liffe exchange.

Less than ten years ago, Liffe's open outcry floor ruled the markets, and around 500 locals traded for their own account. They were noisy, assertive, confident and extrovert – they had to be. They were sometimes well trained in advanced macro economics, monetary policy and foreign exchange, but more often than not they were sharp-minded market boys who could just as well trade cars, cameras and caviar.

The trading pits were not for the faint hearted, the combination of high financial stakes, cramped quarters and cut-throat competitiveness sent more than one young trader-to-be scurrying for the exits in search of a desk job. There was noise, chaos, energy and excitement and then almost overnight this changed to an electronic exchange leaving many of the top performing open outcry traders looking for work.
This book is the story of John Sussex, a highly successful derivatives trader whose career has spanned the radical technological, social and political changes which took place in the City of London during the Eighties and Nineties.

A life-changing visit to the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1981 made John determined to realise his destiny as a pit trader and he began his career on the floor when the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) first opened.

A tough demeanour and quick-thinking mind soon made him a top-performing trader in the pits. John went on to serve on the Liffe executive board and through the course of his career worked with many important figures in hi-finance, including Clara Furse, the current chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, John Meriwether, the man behind one of the world's largest hedge fund collapses in the late Nineties and David Kyte, the former floor trader who now operates his own trading arcade having amassed a personal fortune of £60 million.

John's career is peppered with exciting events which provide a fascinating biographical backdrop to the period when derivatives first took off in the city of London. These include rogue trading incidents, the impact of the transition to electronic trading from open outcry (which left some stellar traders working as fish mongers on market stalls) and the rivalry between Liffe and the Frankfurt-based derivatives exchange Eurex.

However, it is the personal stories of many of the pioneers of open outcry trading in London which are the primary focus of the biography. Ordinary people, many of whom, like John, came from humble backgrounds to amass personal fortunes and sometimes live lavish lifestyles fuelled by their success as traders.

Day One Trader is packed full of exclusive - until now not reported - stories on what really happened. It sheds new light on what motivated characters such as Nick Leeson and also reveals how hugely important figures such as John Meriweather operated in the markets.
This biography captures the atmosphere and sometimes brutal reality of the trading pits.

For further information or to request a review copy, please contact

Emma Knott

Day One Trader – A Liffe Story by John Sussex to be published by Wiley on 30th July 2009

9780470741733, £16.99, Hardback

To buy this book click here

About the author: John Sussex's career spans the very start of the Liffe's open outcry exchange right through to a screen based exchange and beyond. John was there on the first day that the London International Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) opened, working with Clara Furse (now Chief Exec of the London Stock Exchange) and teaching David Kyte (now worth $120 million). He traded on Black Monday in 1987, through the explosion of new derivatives products and the boom years of the 90's. He built his firm - Sussex Futures - into the biggest independent broker on Liffe and was elected to the Liffe Board working with Lord Walker, Sir Michael Jenkins and Sir Brian Williamson amongst others. He was there at the advent of electronic trading and served on the advisory committees for Liffe Connect - Liffe's state of the art electronic dealing system. He experienced his own firms rogue trading incident and the aftermath which cost him £2.3 million and left him having to give away his business. He then started from scratch again with E-local trading, recruiting youngsters from Essex with no previous experience and turning them into screen traders. When he retired in 2007 the firm was trading 1 million contracts a month and 6% of the entire EURIBOR market.

Wall Street Revalued: Imperfect Markets and Inept Central Bankers by Andrew Smithers

Rachel Shand — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:00:51 +0100

Wall Street Revalued: Imperfect Markets and Inept Central Bankers
by Andrew Smithers

Andrew Smithers, one of the world’s foremost economists, showed that at its peak in 2000 the US stock market was wildly over-priced and argued that central bankers should adjust their policies to prevent asset bubbles. But the Federal Reserve claimed that assets could not be valued and that they should ignore asset prices.

In Wall Street Revalued, Andrew Smithers argues that the Federal Reserve was wrong on both counts and that these errors were the major cause of the current recession and financial crisis. He shows how investors and central banks can value assets, so that incipient bubbles can be identified and a repetition of today’s problems avoided.

Indifference to overvalued asset prices by investors, central banks and much of the financial press is the root cause of the current crisis. Bubbles in stock markets, house prices and financial assets cause huge damage when they fall, not only to their owners, but also to the world economy. An understanding of how to value assets is therefore vital for managing the economy as well as for investors.

Wall Street Revalued explains how assets can be valued and shows how much incorrect and inaccurate information is published on the subject and how to spot this. Among investment bankers and financial journalists the two most common claims to value are, as Andrew shows, unadulterated nonsense. One of these is that "Shares are cheap given the level of current (or forecast) PE multiples" and the other is that "Shares are cheap relative to interest rates".

Andrew also explains how asset prices affect the economy and how central banks lose their ability to stabilise it when bubbles collapse. The denial that markets can be valued has caused great damage. Markets are not perfectly efficient, nor are they are irrational casinos. This book sets out a new model for understanding the limited efficiency of financial markets, which is the key condition for improving investment and economic management today.

About the author:
Andrew Smithers is the founder of Smithers & Co., which provides economics-based asset allocation advice to over 100 fund management companies worldwide. Andrew is a regular contributor in Japan to the Nikkei Veritas. He was a regular contributor to the London Evening Standard and Japan's Sentaku magazine, and has written for many other newspapers and magazines, including the Financial Times, Forbes (US), Sunday Telegraph (UK), Independent on Sunday (UK) and Genron (Japan). Andrew is an invited contributor to the prestigious Economist's Forum on the FT website.
Andrew is a member of the Advisory Board for the Centre for International Macroeconomics and Finance (CIMF) at Cambridge and has also been a member of the Investment Committee at Clare College, Cambridge since 1998.

Prior to starting his own firm, Andrew was at S.G.Warburg & Co. Ltd. from 1962 to 1989 where he ran the investment management business for some years and which, by the end of his tenure, was the acknowledged market leader. This was subsequently floated off as a separate company, Mercury Asset Management, which was acquired by Merrill Lynch in 1998.

For further information or to request a review copy, please contact

Emma Knott
email eknott@wiley.com.

Wall Street Revalued: Imperfect Markets and Inept Central Bankers,
to be published by Wiley on 17th August 2009
ISBN: 9780470750056, £16.99, Hardback

To buy a copy of the book click here.

Internal Investigations; A Basic Guide Anyone Can Use

Rachel Shand — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:39:01 +0100

Internal Investigations; A Basic Guide Anyone Can Use by Spencer Pickett

There has never been a more pressing need for all larger companies to install an effective procedure for conducting internal investigations into known failings and weaknesses in the way business is conducted. Which is why the new Wiley book, Internal Investigations; A Basic Guide Anyone Can Use, is so relevant as we emerge from the global economic downturn.

A recent article from The Times Newspaper, 7 July 2009 Business (page 38) sounded a clear warning:

Fines to double or triple as FSA gest tough with City wrongdoers - The FSA, the leading City regulator, announced yesterday the sharpest increase in penalties for improper conduct since it was formed a decade ago. Under the new tariff system, which is intended to apply to rule breaches committd after February 2010, insider dealers will face fines of £100,000, and misbehaving companies could be hit with penalties of £50 million.

Meanwhile the UK as with the US and other developed countries, is overhauling its regulatory framework with special attention being paid to the banking sector and the need for greater corporate transparency in listed companies. In a parallel move, public sector bodies are increasingly being asked to show that they are providing value for money from taxpayers' money.

We are arriving at the stage where, whenever a company knows there is a problem with the way its managers are conducting business, these problems must be quickly investigated and resolved. External regulators may well launch their own inquiry where a company fails to regulate itself through its internal investigations procedure.

Internal Investigations; A Basic Guide Anyone Can Use, is a great way to benchmark your existing process and help spread the message that problems, left unresolved, can go on to become major risks to your organisation.

9780470779682; Hardback; £39.99

For more information about the book please contact Emma Knott

eknott@wiley.com

To buy the book click here