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Exile on Wall Street
Book

Exile on Wall Street

One Analyst’s Fight to Save the Big Banks from Themselves

Mike Mayo
Wiley, 2011

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Overview

Recommendation

Investment analyst Mike Mayo calls himself an exile on – not from – Wall Street. Drawing on the objectivity he first developed as a bank analyst working at the Federal Reserve, Mayo brings impartiality and an insider’s view to his often scathing analysis of the financial industry. The subject matter is compelling, in part due to the skill with which Mayo treats the arcana of sell-side bank research – a generally dry and usually inaccessible topic. His wry sarcasm serves as comic relief, and he often steps out of his narrative to engage the reader directly. He achieves an affable tone – neither overly erudite nor overly simplistic – and uses everyday analogies to render complex financial issues comprehensible. Even though Mayo’s 2012 narrative is a bit outdated, getAbstract recommends this well-informed read to laypeople and to Wall Street practitioners.

Take-Aways

  • Banking analyst Mike Mayo has found that on Wall Street – as in many other places – self-interest often prevails over ethics.
  • Mayo learned the craft of bank examination at the Federal Reserve in Washington, DC.
  • He admired former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, who believed regulators’ chief mandate should be to keep the financial system safe and steady, not to help banks make money.

About the Author

Mike Mayo is a managing director at investment bank Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia.

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