This book takes you through some of the defining periods that have formed today’s financial markets. Before that, the opening chapter outlines the development of the modern investment fund industry in the 20th century. The book describes several defining moments that have shaped today’s financial markets, such as:
Fibonacci’s important contribution to modern finance from 1202
The 14th century Florentine multinational merchant banks
How the mighty 15th century Medici bankers financed the Renaissance
The rise of stock, bond and derivative markets
The surprising origins of the word ‘Beurs’ (Bourse, Borsa)
How the Bank of Amsterdam became the world’s 17th century safe haven
Two remarkable and colorful investment books from 1688 and 1720
The parallels between the stock market bubbles of the 1690s and 1990s
The Lehman-like crisis of 1763
The birth of the mutual fund in 1774
The first emerging markets crisis in the 1820s
How the Rothschild bankers created the first international bonds in 1818.
