Baring Brothers and the Birth of Modern Finance
Peter E Austin
Financial History
978 1 85196 922 7: 216x138mm: £60.00/$99.00
978 1 85196 552 6
Utilizing British and American archives, Austin charts Baring Brothers' development from wool merchants to one of the most powerful global financial institutions. Throughout the nineteenth century, the company grew in tandem with the British Empire. It invested heavily in developing markets in Asia, Africa and South America, both supporting the British administration and opening up new areas for colonial expansion. By the end of the century, it was said that Britain had established an empire in South America by capital alone.
In 1995, the company collapsed over a weekend, brought down by the 'rogue trader' Nick Leeson. In the first history of Baring Brothers to be written since its collapse, Austin analyses the errors which led to its downfall and places them in the context of the company's illustrious history.
Sample pages
- Baring Brothers and the Birth of Modern Finance: Introduction
- Baring Brothers and the Birth of Modern Finance: Index
Readership
Financial History, Twentieth-Century Studies
Contents
Introduction
1 Growth of Confidence (1763–1828)
2 Opportunity and System (1828–30)
3 Good Timing (1830–2)
4 Silver Linings (1832–4)
5 Changing Too Soon (1835–6)
6 Barings Alone (1837–9)
Epilogue: Argentina and Singapore (1890, 1995)
Reviews
'An extensively researched book ... taking advantage of the private documents of some of the major figures in the bank ... Recommended'
– CHOICE
'The ebbs and flows of the American trade are charted scrupulously ... he demonstrates the trans-Atlantic dimensions of the [1837] panic, which is a valuable corrective to accounts that focus solely on America.'
– Martin Horn, Business History Review
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