How the Trading Floor Really Works

Foreword

By Gillian Tett

Many years ago, when I was a young financial reporter, I had a chance to walk onto a banking trading floor in London. It was an intense experience, which sparked a frisson of excitement and an insatiable sense of curiosity – and an odd sense of déjà vu. In an earlier part of my career, before becoming a journalist, I had worked as a social anthropologist, conducting fieldwork in places such as Tajikistan and Tibet. At first glance, those remote Himalayan communities might seem to have nothing in common with the young (and they are mostly young) men and women who work on the trading desks of the world’s banks; on the contrary, in terms of power, lifestyle, aspirations and earnings, the two environments are worlds apart. ...