The Moneychangers

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The Moneychangers is a 1975 novel written by Arthur Hailey. The plot revolves around the politics inside a major bank.

[edit] Plot summary

As the novel begins, the position of CEO of one of America's largest banks, First Mercantile American (very loosely based on the Bank of America) is about to become vacant due to the terminal illness of the incumbent chief. Two high-ranking executives groomed for the succession begin their personal combat for the position. One, Alex Vandervoort, is honest, hard-charging, and not blessed with good people skills; the other, Roscoe Heyward, is suave, hypocritical, and skilled in boardroom politics.

As these men fight, various issues involving the banking industry, such as credit card fraud, embezzlement, inflation, and insider trading are discussed. First Merchantile American is eventually revealed to have a doppelganger in the form of an organized crime family.

The fight for control of the bank continues under the darkening clouds of an approaching economic recession. One of the two CEO contenders is eventually unmasked as a double agent who has sold out a considerable fraction of the bank's capital to the power of a dishonest multinational conglomerate. The ensuing scandal almost wrecks First Mercantile, and the perpetrator is forced to commit suicide. The other candidate assumes the position of CEO of the half-ruined bank.

The Moneychangers was written before the wave of USA bank mergers that began in the 1980s. Under current conditions it is difficult to believe that a maimed bank, as First Mercantile American is described as being by the end of the book, could continue in business as an independent firm.

[edit] On television

A television miniseries bearing the same name and based on the novel was broadcast in 1976.