Several readers have asked me why I called my book Bankers are people, too: How finance works
It sure wasn’t the working title, which was Money, Banks, and Power. The working title reflected the role of politics and regulation in real-life banking. A realistic description of the financial sector cannot neglect the world outside banks.
I picked the final title to stress that most bankers are not masters of the universe, banksters or rocket scientists. Although Bankers are people, too doesn’t ignore the dark side – e.g. it has a chapter on offshore tax havens – I didn’t want to write yet another book on ‘what is wrong with banking’. Plenty of books do that already.
Surprisingly few books answer the simple question: how do banks work? The vast majority of bankers – by which I mean anyone working in the financial industry – have nothing to do with shady businesses. These bankers are the people who make sure your payments get processed, that you can get a loan or who give you investment advice.
They are the employees whose jobs are threatened by technological and organizational changes. That’s why bankers are people, too.
Just to be clear: despite its title, Bankers are people, too is NOT a human interest story. You have been warned 🙂