Publication Date: 26 May 2026
ISBN: 9781764392594
Format: Softcover
AUD: $32.99
Prudence and Ambition
Banks are a way of organising society. Their liabilities are money. They make wealth portable. They facilitate commerce. They do the work of markets where markets don't exist. No one much likes banks. We resent their power and wealth. They hold our mortgages and issue our credit cards. They know things about us. They can veto our plans. But we need them. Prosperity requires credit. The economy struggles if its banks are overcautious. When a bank fails, the public suffers.
But do we know enough about how they work?
In Prudence and Ambition, former director of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Harrison Young looks back on his long career to explain how banks work and why the Western bank governance model is no longer fit for purpose.
Taking us through key moments of a career that spans over four decades and twenty countries, Harrison explores different banking systems, their failures and successes, and offers his vision of the change needed to build banks for the future.
If you're not a banker, this book offers fascinating insight into how the world of finance operates. If you are a banker, or aspire to be a banker, this book will make you pause and reflect. Essential reading for anyone participating in the global economy.
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About the Author
Born and raised in the United States, Harrison Young graduated from Harvard in 1966 with a job as a reporter for The Washington Post and an aspiration to have an interesting life. The Vietnam War derailed his journalistic career. He spent five years in the U.S. Army, becoming a captain in Special Forces, learning rudimentary Chinese and serving in Okinawa and Vietnam.
He joined Citibank in 1971, moved to Morgan Stanley in 1975, and went on to become the U.S. government official in charge of failing banks in the early 1990s. Harrison was the CEO of China's first investment banking firm, served as vice-chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and Morgan Stanley Australia, has been a director of the Bank of England, chairman of NBN Co and a non-executive director of Commonwealth Bank of Australia. He also led the restructuring of global online news network The Conversation in 2017.
Harrison has had a remarkable investment banking career spanning more than forty years. His career has seen him conduct business in twenty countries and advise twelve foreign governments on banking system matters. He is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, and calls Melbourne his home. He's the author of four published novels, Partners, Submission, Nantucket and The Daughters of Henry Wong, and delights in collecting Australian artwork and paintings.