Meltdown

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What to expect

'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' - Oliver Bullough, bestselling author of Butler to the World

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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, amongst 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 continued to expand, 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 of Pyramid of Lies 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.

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"A riveting autopsy of how one of banking's titans gradually, then suddenly, crumbled under the weight of its own misdeeds" - Bradley Hope, New York Times bestselling author of Billion Dollar Whale and Blood and Oil

"This financial thriller of a book offers a tantalising glimpse into the rot at the heart of one of the world's most powerful banks" - Parmy Olson, bestselling author of We Are Anonymous and Supremacy

"We're used by now to bankers behaving badly, but Duncan Mavin takes it to another shocking, anger-inducing level. Credit Suisse stood for propriety, but he shows this to be a total fabrication" - Chris Blackhurst, former editor of The Independent and bestselling author of Too Big to Jail

"A gripping story of power, greed and panic, and a humbling reminder of the enormous cost of capitalism going awry" - Josie Cox, author of Women, Money and Power

Critics Review

This isn’t just 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
Oliver Bullough, bestselling author of Butler to the World
A riveting autopsy of Credit Suisse's dramatic downfall, Mavin's Meltdown expertly dissects decades of scandal and hubris. This meticulously researched exposé reveals how one of banking's titans gradually, then suddenly, crumbled under the weight of its own misdeeds
Bradley Hope, New York Times bestselling author of Billion Dollar Whale and Blood and Oil
We’re used by now to bankers behaving badly, yet Duncan Mavin takes it to another, shocking, anger-inducing level. Credit Suisse stood for propriety, but starting with the Holocaust and ending with the vast bank’s sudden collapse, he shows this to be a total fabrication
Chris Blackhurst, bestselling author of Too Big to Jail and The World's Biggest Cash Machine
Meltdown offers a gripping and meticulously researched account of Credit Suisse's downfall. Mavin uses vivid storytelling and deep insider knowledge to unravel the long history of scandal, hubris, and mismanagement that ultimately led to the bank’s collapse. This financial thriller of a book offers a tantalising glimpse into the rot at the heart of one of the world's most powerful banks
Parmy Olson, bestselling author of We Are Anonymous and Supremacy
Through deep meticulous reporting and compelling storytelling, Mavin chronicles the gradual, quiet demise—and then shockingly sudden collapse—of what was once one of the world’s most trusted financial institutions. A gripping story of power, greed and panic, and a humbling reminder of the enormous cost of capitalism going awry
Josie Cox, author of Women, Money and Power
Pulling no punches and naming names, Mavin lays out an almost comically scandalous story with dry humour, connecting the granular details of how it happened to the big picture - a decades-long saga of corporate folly. Swiss bank secrecy laws emerge as the villain, protecting over-rated, unaccountable executives from scrutiny of their actions until it was too late for anyone to save them from the consequences
Andy Verity, BBC Economics correspondent and author of Rigged
Duncan Mavin’s engaging, authoritative indictment of Credit Suisse is a cavalcade of scandals, crises, and chronic management failures fueled by a pervasively rotten culture. Meltdown is a sensational page-turner, even if you sometimes feel like looking away in disgust from the illegality, amorality, depravity and greed that defined this pillar of global high finance for decades until its collapse.
Sean Silcoff, author of Losing the Signal
A gripping account of how the Swiss bank collapsed under the weight of scandal after scandal
The Times
Meltdown is an eminently readable survey of Credit Suisse’s tawdry history, and many of the industry’s darker secrets
The Telegraph
A powerful and well-researched exposé of a bank that deserved to die, Meltdown is an object lesson in how not to run a bank
Literary Review
Duncan Mavin is well placed to tell this corporate horror story...Meltdown is a repeat demolition job, a pacy account of Credit Suisse’s rise and fall
Lionel Barber in The Spectator
Meltdown is an exhilarating read, with truths more compelling than most fiction. Read it, weep, and look out for the Hollywood blockbuster
Banking Risk & Regulation
A whistle-stop tour of scandals... but at its heart is a financial lesson that we keep having to relearn: Banks don’t fail because they run out of money. They fail because they run out of trust
Liz Hoffman, reviewing for Semafor
A whistle-stop tour of Credit Suisse's litany of occasionally comical scandals...Meltdown is an excellent chronology
Financial News
The chequered 167-year history of Credit Suisse is deftly analysed... and told with commendable clarity
Spear's Magazine
Unputdownably delicious . . . the British version of Bad Blood . . . [but] better
The Sunday Times, on Pyramid of Lies
Quite simply, one of the best books of investigative journalism I have ever read. Duncan Mavin is a natural story-teller and a brilliant sleuth
Matthew d'Ancona, bestselling author of Post-Truth, on Pyramid of Lies
Leaves little doubt that much is indeed wrong in the excessively close relationship between some financiers and politicians . . . [who] stood to gain millions of pounds
Simon Clark, author of The Key Man, on Pyramid of Lies
Terrific . . . shows the emptiness behind the bombast
Nick Cohen, The Observer, Book of the Week, on Pyramid of Lies
A meticulously researched and enjoyably lively account
The Daily Telegraph, on Pyramid of Lies
Forensic and riveting
The New Statesman, on Pyramid of Lies
Mavin expertly demystifies the rise and fall of Greensill Capital and weaves an intriguing tale at the cross section of sleaze, power and greed at the heart of UK politics and global finance. A fascinating - and prescient - read
Karl Holbrook, Executive Editor, Daily Express, on Pyramid of Lies
Duncan Mavin’s gripping account of the bank’s 2023 implosion exposes a crisis decades in the making . . . A pageturner
Financial Times

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