Tower of Basel

Tower 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 center 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.