The Rise and Fall of Wessex Asset Management and the 2008 Crash

What caused the Global Financial Crisis of 2008? What lessons should be learnt from it? Could it happen again? Taking his own career in the City of London as a starting point, the author tackles these important questions. His position as a fund manager in a variety of financial institutions during the 1980s and 1990s, and then as a hedge fund manager from 1999 to 2011, gives him the ideal vantage point. He is an insider: he knows the trade, the pitfalls, the hubris and the mistakes.

This highly readable book highlights the fundamental weaknesses of the financial system: the problems surrounding liquidity and risk, the vulnerability of the market to errors and overshoots, and the devastating effects of amplifying those errors with unsustainable amounts of debt. The book also examines issues such as women in hedge funds, pay in the finance sector, and the future of the Eurozone. The distinction between the banking system and the hedge fund industry is also brought into sharp focus.

With an entertaining and lively style, the book leads the reader effortlessly through complex arguments and analysis, leading to a comprehensive overview of the financial crisis as well as a clear-eyed grasp of the finer details. Whatever your level of financial expertise, this is essential reading.