Adam LeBor's Tower of Basel makes a strident case for challenging [central bankers]. They are
not he argues the impartial heroes of good governance that we wish they were. Rather they are
what a democracy should fear most: tyrants who use the rules of finance rather than troops or
captive parliaments to exercise control-Wall Street JournalTower of Basel is the first
investigative history of the world's most secretive global financial institution. Based on
extensive archival research in Switzerland Britain and the United States and in-depth
interviews with key decision-makers including Paul Volcker the former chairman of the US
Federal Reserve Sir Mervyn King governor of the Bank of England and former senior Bank for
International Settlements managers and officials Tower of Basel tells the inside story of the
Bank for International Settlements (BIS): the central bankers' own bank.Created by the
governors of the Bank of England and the Reichsbank in 1930 and protected by an international
treaty the BIS and its assets are legally beyond the reach of any government or jurisdiction.
The bank is untouchable. Swiss authorities have no jurisdiction over the bank or its premises.
The BIS has just 140 customers but made tax-free profits of 1.17 billion in 2011-2012.Since its
creation the bank has been at the heart of global events but has often gone unnoticed. Under
Thomas McKittrick the bank's American president from 1940-1946 the BIS was open for business
throughout the Second World War. The BIS accepted looted Nazi gold conducted foreign exchange
deals for the Reichsbank and was used by both the Allies and the Axis powers as a secret
contact point to keep the channels of international finance open.After 1945 the BIS still
behind the scenes for decades provided the necessary technical and administrative support for
the trans-European currency project from the first attempts to harmonize exchange rates in the
late 1940s to the launch of the Euro in 2002. It now stands at the centre of efforts to build a
new global financial and regulatory architecture once again proving that it has the power to
shape the financial rules of our world. Yet despite its pivotal role in the financial and
political history of the last century and during the economic current crisis the BIS has
remained largely unknown until now.
