A Wunch of Bankers
Daniel Ziffer
It wasn’t just its exhaustive rounds of hearings around the country – Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin, and Sydney – on topics from farming finance to financial planning. It wasn’t even the long list of scandals exposed to a horrified nation – charging fees to dead people, blatant conflicts of interest, and taking $1 billion from customers in fees that banks were never entitled to.
What made it so fascinating, so heart-breaking, and so enraging was the procession of faces through the witness box, and the team of counsel gazing into the dark heart of banking.
Tearful victims, blank-faced executives, hapless regulators, and a couple of utter charlatans all had their day in court, watched by an audience of millions, and revealing – in their stories – the material to justify re-shaping the multi-trillion dollar financial services industry that forms a pillar of Australian life.
A Wunch of Bankers covers not just the big shocks, but the small moments – lost in the flurry of daily reporting – that reveal how companies have used the law, limp enforcement, and basic human behaviour to take advantage of customers.
Is there a phrase that judges how much life-insurance spruikers in call centres can terrify you about your impending death – and the grief-stricken ruins of an estate you’ll leave for your bereaved family – while still being legal?
Yes, there is. Was there a meeting in which a bank’s executives ignored a warning of “Extreme” from its chief risk officer, to embark on an illegal scheme that accrued $3.6 billion in funds? There was.
Mixed among the testimony are snippets from life on the road as the World’s Oldest Debuting TV Reporter – not just driving five hours one-way to talk to a man who almost blew his brains out over a bank nabbing his $22 million estate, but explaining how journalism can only ever give you a glimpse inside complex issues.
In A Wunch of Bankers, Dan Ziffer bring out the colour and grit of the royal commission’s proceedings, and explores broader issues raised by the testimony. A mixture of analysis, reportage, and observations, it is densely researched and compellingly written.
What made it so fascinating, so heart-breaking, and so enraging was the procession of faces through the witness box, and the team of counsel gazing into the dark heart of banking.
Tearful victims, blank-faced executives, hapless regulators, and a couple of utter charlatans all had their day in court, watched by an audience of millions, and revealing – in their stories – the material to justify re-shaping the multi-trillion dollar financial services industry that forms a pillar of Australian life.
A Wunch of Bankers covers not just the big shocks, but the small moments – lost in the flurry of daily reporting – that reveal how companies have used the law, limp enforcement, and basic human behaviour to take advantage of customers.
Is there a phrase that judges how much life-insurance spruikers in call centres can terrify you about your impending death – and the grief-stricken ruins of an estate you’ll leave for your bereaved family – while still being legal?
Yes, there is. Was there a meeting in which a bank’s executives ignored a warning of “Extreme” from its chief risk officer, to embark on an illegal scheme that accrued $3.6 billion in funds? There was.
Mixed among the testimony are snippets from life on the road as the World’s Oldest Debuting TV Reporter – not just driving five hours one-way to talk to a man who almost blew his brains out over a bank nabbing his $22 million estate, but explaining how journalism can only ever give you a glimpse inside complex issues.
In A Wunch of Bankers, Dan Ziffer bring out the colour and grit of the royal commission’s proceedings, and explores broader issues raised by the testimony. A mixture of analysis, reportage, and observations, it is densely researched and compellingly written.
Reviews
“In a rollicking and witty blow-by-blow account of his year covering the Hayne Royal Commission for the ABC, Ziffer attends to the more grotesque malpractices unearthed by the Royal Commission…Drawing heavily on hearing transcripts, Ziffer delights in replaying the squirming, verbal contortions of witnesses under the inscrutable questioning of Hayne and the counsels assisting.” –Ben Huf, Australian Book Review
“Daniel Ziffer doesn’t suffer from inertia. His book, A Wunch of Bankers, is a supercharged flight through the absurdity of the year he spent reporting from the commission for ABCTV.” –Peter Martin, The Saturday Age
“Wucking funderful.” –Wil Anderson “A devilish peek into the barren soul of the banking industry.” –Sammy J
“[A] rollicking blow-by-blow of the Hayne Royal Commission into banking…Ziffer’s doom, gloom and snark sums up our twenty-first century tastes perfectly. Enjoy this real-life Dickensian nightmare, and despair!” –Chris Dite, Readings
“After covering last year’s banking royal commission, I never thought I’d want to read another word about it, but reading this book is like being next to the naughty schoolboy. The result is hugely entertaining but also affecting as Melbourne journalist Daniel Ziffer’s light touch reminds us this was about normal people who were impacted by bank wrongdoing. The book works brilliantly as a guided tour through the sordid details of the royal commission as he embraces the pettiness and absurdity of the excuse making of many of the major players. Where the banks and other financial institutions were so tone deaf, Ziffer’s ear is pitch perfect, showing warmth and respect to those who were done over as well as piquing the phoniness of excuses by the institutions. Nothing is sacred–from the extremes of corporate lies and cover-ups to laughing at pompous CEO signatures. Ziffer’s book has what the banking system was shown to lack–a moral compass and real heart.”
–Jeff Whaley, Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin
“Daniel Ziffer doesn’t suffer from inertia. His book, A Wunch of Bankers, is a supercharged flight through the absurdity of the year he spent reporting from the commission for ABCTV.” –Peter Martin, The Saturday Age
“Wucking funderful.” –Wil Anderson “A devilish peek into the barren soul of the banking industry.” –Sammy J
“[A] rollicking blow-by-blow of the Hayne Royal Commission into banking…Ziffer’s doom, gloom and snark sums up our twenty-first century tastes perfectly. Enjoy this real-life Dickensian nightmare, and despair!” –Chris Dite, Readings
“After covering last year’s banking royal commission, I never thought I’d want to read another word about it, but reading this book is like being next to the naughty schoolboy. The result is hugely entertaining but also affecting as Melbourne journalist Daniel Ziffer’s light touch reminds us this was about normal people who were impacted by bank wrongdoing. The book works brilliantly as a guided tour through the sordid details of the royal commission as he embraces the pettiness and absurdity of the excuse making of many of the major players. Where the banks and other financial institutions were so tone deaf, Ziffer’s ear is pitch perfect, showing warmth and respect to those who were done over as well as piquing the phoniness of excuses by the institutions. Nothing is sacred–from the extremes of corporate lies and cover-ups to laughing at pompous CEO signatures. Ziffer’s book has what the banking system was shown to lack–a moral compass and real heart.”
–Jeff Whaley, Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin
Expose and scandal at its highest level. Legal but ethical? You be the judge. This book available now at The Booklovers Club.
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