This book analyses the events that shook French and international finance during the last twenty-five years of the twentieth century. In a straightforward style, eschewing all clichés, the author shows:
— why Pierre Bérégovy was instrumental in bringing about the revolution in French finance which allowed the country to get ahead
— how Edouard Balladur’s closest followers created a caste which is now in control of upper management, and how they prevented the creation of pension funds — in other words, how they prevented the realisation of the Gaullist dream of participation
— how and why France has developed a real genius for establishing systems of mutual assistance from which it has derived strength in many fields and how this is being destroyed by blind, ideological liberalism, as is illustrated by the current situation of the Crédit Agricole on the Stock Exchange
— finally, how and why U.S. banks have managed to take over financial control of large French businesses.

Antoine Jeancourt-Galignani was a senior Treasury official before becoming a banker and insurance company executive. He is now chairman of the board of directors of GECINA and the owner of the oldest English-language bookshop in Paris.

Antoine Jeancourt-Galignani has had a multi-faceted experience of French finance: his career has covered the Treasury, banking and insurance. As a senior Treasury official, he worked with Xavier Ortoli and later with Giscard d’Estaing at the Ministry of Finance. His banking experience was acquired at the Chase Manhattan Bank and, subsequently, in managerial positions at the Crédit Agricole and the Banque Indosuez. And, finally, he was the CEO of AGF, one of France’s major insurance companies.
He is now chairman of the board of directors of GECINA and the owner of the oldest English-language bookshop in Paris.