Wriston: Walter Wriston, Citibank, and the Rise and Fall of American Financial Supremacy [Hardcover]

Phillip L. Zweig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 1996

Wriston rose to the top of the giant but sleepy First National City, later renamed Citibank, and set about reinventing not only his own institution, but much of banking and finance in the U.S. and the world. The story of his three turbulent decades at Citibank will fascinate anyone interested in the forces that control money and capital. (Cover Title)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The son of a famous Midwestern academic, Wriston stumbled into the banking business shortly after returning from WWII, when he joined First National City in Manhattan. He was a major force in transforming not only National City but the entire American banking industry, from a heavily regulated, tradition-bound field into an aggressive player in international markets. A staunch believer in free markets, technology and overseas lending, Wriston oversaw the growth of National City into the first bank holding company, Citicorp, which has interests in a variety of financial areas. During his career, capped by a 17-year reign as CEO, there was virtually nothing that occurred in the world of banking?ranging from the bailouts of Mexico and New York City to the spread of banking deregulation and the use of credit cards?that Wriston and Citibank were not heavily involved with. Zweig (Bellyup: The Collapse of the Penn Square Bank) artfully blends Wriston's personal and business lives, along with the American banking scene in the 1940s through the mid-1980s, into a compelling story. Although there is more detail here about banking practices than the casual reader will care to know, this is an absorbing biography of one of the most influential men in recent banking history. Wriston and his family and friends were among Zweig's hundreds of sources.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Walter Wriston may not be known to the average person, but he has had a profound impact on American life. He headed Citibank, which pioneered many financial practices?e.g., automated teller machines (ATMs), certificates of deposit (CDs), and a wider availability of credit cards?that we take for granted today. Zweig (Belly Up: The Collapse of Penn Square Bank, 1984. o.p.) has written an exhaustive, overlong account of Wriston's life as well as a chronicle of the forces at work in the United States that would enable Citibank to become the largest and most powerful American bank in the world. The book also shows that the recent spate of banking consolidation and mergers was set in motion largely by what Wriston accomplished. While Citibank has been the subject of previous books (notably Richard B. Miller's Citicorp: The Story of a Bank in Crisis, LJ 4/15/93), this work is just about as authoritative and satisfying as one could hope for. Recommended for larger business collections.?Richard Drezen, Washington Post News Research Ctr., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 952 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business; 1st. ed edition (March 26, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517584239
• ISBN-13: 978-0517584231
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #545,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars History and Banking Education, August 2, 2004

By 

Atherton Reader (Atherton, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wriston: Walter Wriston, Citibank, and the Rise and Fall of American Financial Supremacy (Hardcover)

Yes -- the book IS long and sometimes excruciatingly painful in detail, but it presents material from the mid-1800's to 1990s. Most emphasis is 1960s-1980s. So, give yourself a lot of leadtime!

If you want a book for its perspective on a parcel of American History, its a great educational tool to understand the evolution of Banking, particularly Post-WWII Fed policies, Glass-Stegall,the battle for laissez-faire regulation, and related internal management challenges to business development. But if you want a book that gives current insights or reads like promotional materials from Goldman Sach's "The Culture of Success" and "House of Morgan", its downright uninspiring and lacks any heart-pounding climax like a biography or fiction.

The writer's large volume of work is matched by his understanding of management and banking jargon and issues. For instance, he understands matrix'ed management structures, credit approval processes, and reasons for organizational resistance to external consultants like McKinsey. He also avoids protraying, as model-citizens or perfect CEOs, Wriston or Reed, who probably gave their cooperation to the book. One could argue that his version of root causes to problems like Penn Central or CREI were incorrect, but equally, one would agree that his facts were mostly complete.

His style of writing is better than recent books such as Enron's "Smartest Guys in the Room" and others which are written by magazine/newspaper journalists -- which read like an extended articles. However, he does succumb to problems in overlapping info that seem redundant at times -- probably needed more cross-chapter-reference editing.

In summary, I'm buying this book for that part on my book shelf covering American History. Its not going into the shelf with Forbes, Peter Drucker, or Jack Welch. Citibank has had a wonderful place in American Capitalism and History as a leading-edge bank with entrepreneurial talent and limitless ambitions -- like those others that have made our country great. The book is a testament to the competitive spirit of America and success driven by people unafraid to fail but always willing to try.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Overlong, lacking in analysis and insight, November 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Wriston: Walter Wriston, Citibank, and the Rise and Fall of American Financial Supremacy (Hardcover)

This ponderous tome provides is a lengthy assemblage of facts about Wriston, but fails to offer very much in the way of insight or analysis.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing and tiresome., January 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wriston: Walter Wriston, Citibank, and the Rise and Fall of American Financial Supremacy (Hardcover)

Too long, too boring and poorly written. I had hoped that this would be an interesting history and Walter Wriston. Instead, I found it to be a self-serving saga of an insecure man.