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Would you prefer to be sacked from your job before or after the Christmas break?

If you work for TAR Bank it’s a hypothetical question. The bank doesn’t care about your preference. If you are on the hit list you will always be shown the door before Christmas and, most importantly, before the bonus allocations.

The fewer the employees, the bigger the bonuses for everybody else.

Welcome to investment banking.

TAR Investment Bank is at the cross-roads during the Global Financial Crisis.

Derek Moody, CEO Americas, ‘retrenches’ one of his team (Victor) under false pretence. Before leaving the premises though Victor hands a memory stick of confidential files to Matt, Derek’s golden boy, asking Matt to whistle blow on Derek’s questionable business activities. Such action would destroy Derek’s career long ambition to join the Bank Executive Board.

The only other candidate for the single vacancy on the Board is the Global Head of Human Resources, William Frederick-Williams. He wants to change the bank’s culture to that of the highest ethical standards.

The ongoing venomous battle between those two contrasting senior managers splits TAR.

Matt has only recently started to recover from a serious
love loss. He plans to leave soul destroying TAR and become a lecturer of business ethics at Columbia Business School.

Matt is shocked when the love of his life returns to New York from London with her husband Lloyd. They also work for TAR and have just been hired by Derek to join the team.

Fighting his demons, Matt is forced to make decisions and take a journey for which he is not prepared. At unsolvable conflict are his ambition to join Columbia, his love for a married colleague, the career of her husband, the utmost respect of his high-caliber high-ethic interns, and the destiny of the bank.

Set in a global investment bank during the Global Financial Crisis, 'The Devil is a Banker' will resonate with any reader who has experienced a workplace with power struggles, politically based decisions, questionable practices, or a disconnect between what happens at work and the real world.