“Billions”, “Industry”… Series on finance, as seen by ex-trader

"Industry", broadcast this Monday on HBO and this Tuesday on OCS City, follows a group of young financial wolves in London.

-

• Industry,

  broadcast this Monday in the United States on HBO and this Tuesday in France on OCS City in US + 24, follows a group of young financial wolves in London.

• After

  Billions

  and

  Devils

  , this series shows the growing interest of screenwriters for the world of finance.

• Realistic series or cliché?

  Alfonso Lopez de Castro, ex-trader and president of Financia Business School answers

  20 Minutes

  .

A dive into the world of the young wolves of finance.

, broadcast this Monday in the United States on HBO and this Tuesday in France on OCS City in US + 24, follows a group of young graduates, competing for a limited number of permanent positions in a large international investment bank in the London City.

After

and

, this eight-part series, created by newcomers Mickey Down and Konrad Kay starring pilot and executive production Lena Dunham (

), has shown the growing interest of TV drama writers since the subprime crisis in 2008, for this rather opaque and little telegenic arena.

Is the world of traders really without faith, nor law like in these series?

“There are a lot of fantasies about finance,” says Alfonso Lopez de Castro, ex-trader and president of Financia Business School.

Realistic representation or cliché?

Fact-check with the expert.

"Industry" or "Anglo-Saxon recruitment processes"

starting point

is realistic: “The series takes up the Anglo-Saxon recruitment processes.

Internships or “summer camp” at the end of studies serve as a trial period for hiring, this creates terrible pressure, ”explains Alfonso Lopez de Castro.

“These young people are ready to give everything,” he confirms again.

Hari, one of

postulants

, is exhausted at work day and night.

"The endangerment of health exists", warns the expert, recalling the death of Moritz Erhardt, in internship in a London bank, after having worked 72 hours in a row.

This is why, "in many Anglo-Saxon companies, the computer is cut off in the evening or on weekends to prevent these young people from working seven days a week," he adds.

Another, Robert, tries to reconcile professional and private life with cocaine.

"There are no more than in other professions," said Alfonso Lopez de Castro, who concedes to the tenacious cliché on finance: "There was a time when there were more drugs, because 'there was a lot of money and that led to abuses'.

Yasmin, meanwhile, tries to make herself indispensable by bringing coffees and other lunches to her superiors.

“I have an anecdote on this subject: I saw certain bosses in the services 'running the coffee', that is to say that the first trainee who brought him the coffee had a good point and they said: “Whoever has the most good points, I hire him” ”.

"Devils" or "internal wars to seize power"

Can you make your investment bank several hundred million in a single day like Massimo, the brilliant

trader

?

“The answer is yes,” replied Alfonso Lopez de Castro.

Massimo's feat?

He bet on the fall, that is to say “shorter” on Greek government bonds.

"There is" long "is when you buy and hope that it goes up, and" short ", when you bet on a fall", comments the expert, who recalls that the trader George Soros forced the bank to England to take its currency out of the European Monetary System with a short position of £ 10 billion.

Vying for vice-president, Massimo sees the position he covets slip away and engages in a financial war against his mentor, Dominic Morgan.

"There are constantly internal wars to take power," says the specialist.

Banks recruit people "who have the win", they are put "in competition, under pressure with objectives to achieve" and therefore "these are people who do not like to lose.

There is not often solidarity between the teams in the banks, on the contrary.

"

However, there was no question of driving a Ferrari or displaying signs of wealth as ostentatious as in

.

“Ethics officers in banks forbid coming to work in Ferrari.

In terms of images, it's negative.

Some large financial institutions have introduced electric cars.

If you come to the office in a Ferrari, you will go on an outside meeting with a Zoe and give a clean and ecological image, ”says the expert.

"Billions" or "the passage from the old world to the new"

It is the

series

, launched in 2016 and available on MyCanal, which obtains the favors of the ex-trader.

“ 

is a real series on the financial professions.

This series shows the passage from the old world to the new ”, he emphasizes.

The character of Taylor Mason and his team of computer scientists oppose old-fashioned finance where we invested on “feeling”, trying to “get information”.

“More than half of the orders that are placed on the stock market today are done by a computer,” recalls the expert.

"In the trading rooms, we have analysts and economists who give trends but also a whole host of specialized IT specialists who will set up software that will translate these trends into reality," he explains.

Billions

shows the “tipping point” of finance.

“Before, we had star traders, geniuses who took very risky positions based on information they were trying to corroborate, all of that no longer exists.

”And to recall that from now on it is no longer traders but risk analysts who are popular.

"With the scandals, all the banks are looking for technicians capable of calculating the risks that the bank takes in real time on each position," insists the president of Financia Business School, citing the cases Jérôme Kerviel and Nick Leeson.

The subprime crisis has changed the situation and the "compliance officer", the one who ensures the legal compliance of movements,

also has a bright future ahead of him.

“The information should be the same for everyone.

The old methods of trying to call a financial director, to make friends… It has all become illegal, ”recalls the expert.

The 1980s star trader in

, so cliché, will soon exist only in fiction.

Series

"Dallas", "Billion", "Succession"… Are we obsessed with the super rich?

Culture

"Devils": How the series takes you behind the scenes of finance

• Culture

• stock Exchange

• Series

• OCS

• Finance

• HBO

• Trader