F.I.A.S.C.O.: The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
FIASCO is the shocking story of one man's education in the jungles of Wall Street. As a young derivatives salesman at Morgan Stanley, Frank Partnoy learned to buy and sell billions of dollars worth of securities that were so complex many traders themselves didn't understand them. In his behind-the-scenes look at the trading floor and the offices of one of the world's top investment firms, Partnoy recounts the macho attitudes and fiercely competitive ploys of his office mates. And he takes us to the annual drunken skeet-shooting competition, FIASCO, where he and his colleagues sharpen the killer instincts they are encouraged to use against their competitiors, their clients, and each other.
FIASCO is the first book to take on the derivatves trading industry--the most highly charged and risky sector of the stock market. More importantly, it is a blistering indictment of the largely unregulated market in derivatives and serves as a warning to unwary investors about real fiascos, which have cost billions of dollars.
Card catalog description
Fiasco is an insider's diary, a shocking education in the jungle of high finance in the 1990s from New York to Tokyo. It tracks the progress of a young Morgan Stanley salesman as he learns the ropes of this sophisticated and ruthless web, where billions of dollars are lost in the creation and trading of securities so unlikely and so complicated that almost nobody understands them. Frank Partnoy presents a world filled with feral "rocket scientists" - the clever masterminds who persuade unsuspecting victims to buy derivatives (whose value is linked to or "derived" from some other security). These salesman often joke about their creations as weapons of mass destruction; and, in fact, the clients are often "blown up" or have their "faces ripped off." Against such well-trained salesmen, buyers often don't stand a chance, and the actual fiascos involve well-publicized losses at Orange County, Barings, Procter & Gamble and many others. Frank Partnoy's book is partly comical and brims with incredible characters, but his revelations should stir fear in anyone who owns mutual funds, stocks, or even insurance.
F.I.A.S.C.O.: The Inside Story of a Wall Street Trader,Frank Partnoy,Penguin Books,0140278796,Business & Economics,Business / Economics / Finance,Business/Economics,Investments & Securities - General
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