A Blueprint for Better Banking. Svenska Handelsbanken and a Proven Model for Post-Crash Banking

'A Blueprint for Better Banking' takes a fresh look at the financial crisis. It sets out to answer specifically what the mistakes were that banks made and how this could have been avoided. What is unique about this book is a detailed description of a large bank that operates very differently from its peers and that has, as a result, steered clear of the areas that have brought many other banks into trouble. This provides a number of insights into how a more resilient, post-credit crunch banking system should look. The first section begins with an overview of existing explanations of the crisis and why they remain partly unsatisfactory. It then sets out an alternative framework based around seven behavioural patterns of imprudent banking. These 'Seven Deadly Sins' have caused most banking crises, including the current one, and while they come in different shapes and forms they remain essentially the same. This book examines why they remain extremely tempting to bankers, often with the enthusiastic support of their shareholders and no meaningful objection by regulators. The second and main part of the book is a new and extensive description of the management practices at Svenska Handelsbanken, one of the top 25 banks in Europe. It not only survived the Swedish banking crisis in the 1990s without asking for support, but it has also remained stable during the latest crisis. Handelsbanken did not have to raise capital or ask for government support and its shares ha...