Banks, Exchanges, and Regulators: Global Financial Markets from the 1970s

A history of how modern markets were remade

Banks, Exchanges, and Regulators: Global Financial Markets from the 1970s is a wide-ranging history of the upheavals that reshaped financial markets over the last half-century. Ranald C. Michie examines the shift from tightly controlled, nationally segmented markets to a far more integrated global system shaped by banks, exchanges, and regulators working — and sometimes clashing — across borders.

The result is not a narrow institutional history. It is a broad account of how money, trading, supervision, and market structure evolved together, and how those changes helped create the conditions that culminated in the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

What the book covers

• the growth of international banking and cross-border finance
• the changing role of stock exchanges and trading platforms
• the rise of markets in currencies, bonds, commodities, futures, options, and derivatives
• the increasing importance of regulation and central oversight
• the consequences of market integration for stability and risk

A long view of financial change

Michie organizes the material around major periods and market themes, allowing readers to see how developments in one part of the system affected others. That approach gives the book real strength: banks are not treated in isolation from exchanges, and regulation is not treated as an afterthought. Instead, the whole financial system is presented as an interconnected structure that changed dramatically from the 1970s onward.

The chapters move from the early phases of transformation through the years leading up to the 2008 crisis and into the post-crisis world. That makes the book especially useful for readers who want historical context for today’s financial landscape rather than a quick summary of recent events.

Who this title will suit

This ebook will appeal to readers of financial history, banking history, economic history, and market regulation, as well as students and professionals who want a deeper understanding of how modern global finance took shape. It is especially relevant for anyone interested in the relationship between market innovation and regulatory response.

If you want a serious, well-researched account of how contemporary financial markets developed, this is a strong and substantial choice.