Finance is an industry moulded by disaster. It took a civil war to bring America’s banks under federal supervision, a banking panic to create the Federal Reserve and a Great Depression for the government to insure deposits. Yet the reformist urge that burns hot in the moment of catastrophe has a tendency to fade. Lessons are forgotten, innovations happen and regulations become regarded as a nuisance. New risks emerge—as do new titans, who defend their successor system vigorously and convincingly. The conclusion of one crisis begins the countdown to the next.
Financial giants are transforming Wall Street
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