Swimming with Sharks: My Journey into the World of the Bankers

If you could peer inside a megabank what would you see? Cigar-smoking, sharp-suited Masters of the Universe striding about the Square Mile like it is the Olympic village? Joris Luyendijk shows us that the truth is very different.

Speaking to over two hundred City insiders - from the elite investment bankers and private-equity staff to graphic experts and interns, as well as therapists and recruiters - Luyendijk sets out to understand the secretive, complex world of haute finance. Protected by anonymity, the banking interviewees are refreshingly frank about what they actually do all day and what makes them tick. They talk to Luyendijk about their hopes, fears, how they see themselves and the rest of us and whether they believe things have really changed since the crash in 2008.

What emerges is a picture of fear and deep dysfunction. From the toxic short-termism of the 'hire and fire' culture, to technological and mathematical opacity, life-changing rewards in the face of minimal punishments and megabanks that know they are too big to fail, Luyendijk warns we have the blueprint for a new scandal, debacle or even crash.

Unique in scope and access, this is an eye-watering examination of how the City really works and why we should all feel alarmed.