Bringing Down the Banking System [electronic resource] : Lessons from Iceland /
Johnsen, G.author.
The combined collapse of Iceland's three largest banks in 2008 is the third largest bankruptcy in history and the largest banking system collapse suffered by any country in modern economic history, relative to GDP. How could tiny Iceland build a banking system in less than a decade that proportionally exceeded Switzerland's? Why did the bankers decide to grow the system so fast? How did businesses tunnel money out of the banking system? And why didn't anybody stop them? Bringing Down the Banking System answers these questions. Gudrun Johnsen, Senior Researcher with Iceland's Special Investigation Commission, tells the riveting story of the rise and fall of the Icelandic banking system, describes the Commission's findings on the damaging effects of holding company cross-ownership, and explains what we can learn from it all.Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Half-Title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; List of Figures; List of Tables; Acknowledgments; List of Characters; Timeline of Relevant Events; Part I From Prosperity to Panic; Chapter 1 Illusion of Prosperity; Chapter 2 Collapse; Chapter 3 Panic; Chapter 4 Investigation; Part II How Did the Bankers Do It?; Chapter 5 Financial Liberalization; Chapter 6 Funding the Banks; Chapter 7 The Geyser Crisis; Chapter 8 Love Letters to the Rescue; Chapter 9 Playing Tricks on the European Central Bank; Part III Why Did the Bankers Do It?; Chapter 10 The Web of Ownership
Chapter 11 Tunneling Money through Related-Party LendingChapter 12 Market Manipulation and Falsification of Equity; Chapter 13 Wages of Failure; Part IV Why Didn't Anybody Stop the Bankers?; Chapter 14 Funded by the Ill-Informed; Chapter 15 A Debt-Free State;  Isolated and without Credit; Chapter 16 Putting a Poodle on Watch; Chapter 17 What Have We Learned?; Notes; References; Index
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The combined collapse of Iceland's three largest banks in 2008 is the third largest bankruptcy in history and the largest banking system collapse suffered by any country in modern economic history, relative to GDP. How could tiny Iceland build a banking system in less than a decade that proportionally exceeded Switzerland's? Why did the bankers decide to grow the system so fast? How did businesses tunnel money out of the banking system? And why didn't anybody stop them? Bringing Down the Banking System answers these questions. Gudrun Johnsen, Senior Researcher with Iceland's Special Investigation Commission, tells the riveting story of the rise and fall of the Icelandic banking system, describes the Commission's findings on the damaging effects of holding company cross-ownership, and explains what we can learn from it all.Banks and banking.
Macroeconomics.
Business enterprises-Finance.
Economic policy.
Banking.
Macroeconomics/Monetary Economics//Financial Economics.
Business Finance.
Economic Policy.