Are recent bank and financial scandals the work of a few `bad apples' or an inevitable result of a financial system rotten to its core? In Barometer of Fear Alexis Stenfors guides us through the shadowy world of modern banking, providing an insider's account of the secret practices - including the manipulation of foreign exchange rates - which have allowed banks to profit from systematic deception. Containing remarkable and often shocking insights derived from his own experiences in the dealing room, as well as his spectacular fall from grace at Merrill Lynch, Barometer of Fear draws back the curtain on a realm that for too long has remained hidden from public view.

Since the financial crisis of 2008-09, central bankers around the world have been forced to abandon conventional monetary policy tools in favour of unconventional policies such as quantitative easing, forward guidance, lowering the interest rate paid on bank reserves into negative territory, and pushing up prices of government bonds. Having faced a crisis in its banking sector nearly a decade earlier, Japan was a pioneer in the use of many of these tools. Unconventional Monetary Policy and Financial Stability critically assesses the measures used by Japan and examines what they have meant for the theory and practice of economic policy. The book shows how in practice unconventional monetary policy has worked through its impact on the financial markets. The text aims to generate an understanding of why such measures were introduced and how the Japanese system has subsequently changed regarding aspects such as governance and corporate balance sheets. It provides a comprehensive study of developments in Japanese money markets with the intent to understand the impact of policy on the debt structures that appear to have caused Japan's deflation. The topics covered range from central bank communication and policymaking to international financial markets and bank balance sheets. This text is of great interest to students and scholars of banking, international finance, financial markets, political economy, and the Japanese economy.

Since the financial crisis of 2008-09, central bankers around the world have been forced to abandon conventional monetary policy tools in favour of unconventional policies such as quantitative easing, forward guidance, lowering the interest rate paid on bank reserves into negative territory, and pushing up prices of government bonds. Having faced a crisis in its banking sector nearly a decade earlier, Japan was a pioneer in the use of many of these tools. Unconventional Monetary Policy and Financial Stability critically assesses the measures used by Japan and examines what they have meant for the theory and practice of economic policy. The book shows how in practice unconventional monetary policy has worked through its impact on the financial markets. The text aims to generate an understanding of why such measures were introduced and how the Japanese system has subsequently changed regarding aspects such as governance and corporate balance sheets. It provides a comprehensive study of developments in Japanese money markets with the intent to understand the impact of policy on the debt structures that appear to have caused Japan's deflation. The topics covered range from central bank communication and policymaking to international financial markets and bank balance sheets. This text is of great interest to students and scholars of banking, international finance, financial markets, political economy, and the Japanese economy.

The LIBOR affair has been described as the 'biggest banking scandal in history', a deception affecting not only banks but also corporations, pension funds and ordinary people. But was this just the tip of the iceberg? Was the scandal the work of a few 'bad apples' or an inevitable result of a financial system rotten to its core? Labelled 'one of the world's most infamous rogue traders' in the wake of a mis-marking scandal, Alexis Stenfors went on to rebuild his life and now guides us through the shadowy world of modern banking, providing an insider's account of the secret practices - including the manipulation of foreign exchange rates - which have allowed banks to profit from systematic deception. Containing remarkable and often shocking insights derived from his own experiences in the dealing room, as well as his spectacular fall from grace at Merrill Lynch, Barometer of Fear draws back the curtain to a realm that for too long has remained hidden from public view.

The LIBOR affair has been described as the 'biggest banking scandal in history', a deception affecting not only banks but also corporations, pension funds and ordinary people. But was this just the tip of the iceberg? Was the scandal the work of a few 'bad apples' or an inevitable result of a financial system rotten to its core? Labelled 'one of the world's most infamous rogue traders' in the wake of a mis-marking scandal, Alexis Stenfors went on to rebuild his life and now guides us through the shadowy world of modern banking, providing an insider's account of the secret practices - including the manipulation of foreign exchange rates - which have allowed banks to profit from systematic deception. Containing remarkable and often shocking insights derived from his own experiences in the dealing room, as well as his spectacular fall from grace at Merrill Lynch, Barometer of Fear draws back the curtain to a realm that for too long has remained hidden from public view.