Tower of Basel: The Inside Story of the Central Bankers' Secret Bank

Five times a year, the world’s most powerful and exclusive club meets in an unexceptional office building in Basel, Switzerland. These central bankers, including the heads of the US Federal Reserve, the Bundesbank of Germany, and the Bank of England, come to Basel to attend the Global Economy Meetings at the Bank for International Settlements. They control monetary policy in the developed world—influencing how much money we have in our pockets and bank accounts, how much that money is worth, and how safe it will be. The BIS has survived wars and the collapse of entire political systems. Its collaborations are complicated: in 1945 the board was dominated by Nazis who would stand trial for war crimes. It pioneered the European Union and the Euro. Founded in the 1930s, the BIS is the birthplace of the global financial technocrat. Central bankers are now more powerful than ever. In Italy and Greece, elected politicians have been replaced by technocrats approved by the BIS. This is the story of the world run by bankers and of the institution at a history of the heart of the global banking club: the central bankers’ own bank.