A Wunch of Bankers

a year in the Hayne royal commission
Daniel Ziffer

‘A devilish peek into the barren soul of the banking industry.’

Sammy J

‘[A] rollicking blow-by-blow of the Hayne Royal Commission into banking ... Ziffer’s doom, gloom and snark sums up our twenty-first century tastes perfectly. Enjoy this real-life Dickensian nightmare, and despair!’

Chris Dite, Readings

View all reviews

‘After covering last year’s banking royal commission, I never thought I’d want to read another word about it, but reading this book is like being next to the naughty schoolboy. The result is hugely entertaining but also affecting as Melbourne journalist Daniel Ziffer’s light touch reminds us this was about normal people who were impacted by bank wrongdoing. The book works brilliantly as a guided tour through the sordid details of the royal commission as he embraces the pettiness and absurdity of the excuse making of many of the major players. Where the banks and other financial institutions were so tone deaf, Ziffer’s ear is pitch perfect, showing warmth and respect to those who were done over as well as piquing the phoniness of excuses by the institutions. Nothing is sacred — from the extremes of corporate lies and cover-ups to laughing at pompous CEO signatures. Ziffer’s book has what the banking system was shown to lack — a moral compass and real heart.’

Jeff Whaley, Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin

‘Daniel Ziffer doesn’t suffer from inertia. His book, A Wunch of Bankers, is a supercharged flight through the absurdity of the year he spent reporting from the commission for ABCTV.’

Peter Martin, The Saturday Age

‘A fly-on-the-wall account of the year-long banking Royal Commission … Ziffer’s one-liners in response to Commission findings are refreshing.’

Company Director Magazine

‘In A Wunch of Bankers, Ziffer brings out the colour and the grit of the Royal Commission’s proceedings, and explores broader issues raised by the testimony.’

Australian Jewish News

‘A supercharged flight through the absurdity of the year he spent reporting from the commission for ABC TV.’

Peter Martin, Sydney Morning Herald

‘Wucking funderful.’

Wil Anderson

It was a complicated, galling, and gasp-inducing year at the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

It wasn’t just the long list of scandals exposed to a horrified nation — charging fees to dead people, ignoring blatant conflicts of interest, and taking $1 billion from customers in fees that banks were never entitled to.

What made it so fascinating, so heart-breaking, and so enraging was the procession of faces through the witness box, and the team of counsel gazing into the dark heart of banking.

Tearful victims, blank-faced executives, hapless regulators, and a couple of utter charlatans all had their day in court, watched by an audience of millions, and revealing — in their stories — the material to justify re-shaping the multi-trillion dollar financial-services industry that forms a pillar of Australian life.

A Wunch of Bankers covers not just the big shocks, but the small moments — lost in the flurry of daily reporting — that reveal how companies have used the law, limp enforcement, and basic human behaviour to take advantage of customers.

Is there a phrase that allows life-insurance spruikers in call centres to terrify you about your impending death — and the grief-stricken ruins of an estate you’ll leave for your bereaved family — while still being legal? Yes, there is.

Was there a meeting in which a bank’s executives ignored a warning of ‘Extreme’ from its chief risk officer, to embark on a dodgy scheme that accrued $3.6 billion in funds? There was.

In A Wunch of Bankers, the World’s Oldest Debuting TV Reporter brings out the colour and grit of the royal commission’s proceedings, and explores broader issues raised by the testimony. A compelling mixture of analysis, reportage, and observation, it is a revelatory work.

‘A devilish peek into the barren soul of the banking industry.’

Sammy J

Chris Dite, Readings

View all reviews

Jeff Whaley, Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin

‘Daniel Ziffer doesn’t suffer from inertia. His book, A Wunch of Bankers, is a supercharged flight through the absurdity of the year he spent reporting from the commission for ABCTV.’

Peter Martin, The Saturday Age

‘A fly-on-the-wall account of the year-long banking Royal Commission … Ziffer’s one-liners in response to Commission findings are refreshing.’

Company Director Magazine

‘In A Wunch of Bankers, Ziffer brings out the colour and the grit of the Royal Commission’s proceedings, and explores broader issues raised by the testimony.’

Australian Jewish News

‘A supercharged flight through the absurdity of the year he spent reporting from the commission for ABC TV.’

Peter Martin, Sydney Morning Herald

BUY EBOOK

Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:368pp

ISBN (13):9781925849363

RRP:$32.99

Pub date:2 Jul 2019

Rights Held: World

High-res cover:Download Image

AWARDS

CATEGORIES / tags

AUTHOR

Daniel Ziffer

Daniel Ziffer covered the Hayne royal commission for ABC radio, TV, and online. He was formerly the long-time senior producer of ‘Mornings with Jon Faine’, at ABC Radio Melbourne, and has worked on air and in production at Macquarie Radio, as a freelance foreign correspondent based in New York City, a journalist at The Age, and as a magazine editor.