Based on unparalleled access to those involved, and told with compelling
pace and drama, The Bank that Lived a Little describes three decades
of boardroom intrigue at one of Britain's biggest financial
institutions. In a tale of feuds, grandiose dreams and a struggle for
supremacy between rival strategies and their adherents, Philip Augar
gives a riveting account of Barclays' journey from an old Quaker bank to
a full-throttle capitalist machine. The disagreement between those
ambitious for Barclays to join the top table of global banks, and those
preferring a smaller domestic role more in keeping with the bank's
traditions, cost three chief executives their jobs and continues to
divide opinion within Barclays, the City and beyond.
This is an extraordinary corporate thriller, which among much else
describes how Barclays came to buy Lehman Brothers for a bargain price
in 2008, why it was so keen to avoid taking government funding during
the financial crisis, and the price shareholders have paid for a decade
of barely controlled ambition. But Augar also shows how Barclays'
experiences are a paradigm for Britain's social and economic life over
thirty years, which saw the City move from the edge of the economy to
its very centre. These decades created unprecedented prosperity for a
tiny number, and made the reputations of governments and individuals but
then left many of them in tatters.
The leveraged society, the winner-takes-all mentality and our present
era of austerity can all be traced to the influence of banks such as
Barclays. Augar's book tells this rollercoaster story from the
perspective of many of its participants - and also of those affected by
the grip they came to have on Britain.
