In the secretive world of banks, a kind of financial aristocracy has emerged, seemingly indifferent to what is now referred to as the real economy. Claudia Honegger, Sighard Neckel, and Chantal Magnin, along with their research teams, have penetrated this world and spoken with financial soldiers from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The sociological portraits that resulted form the core of this book. They address questions such as: How do bankers interpret the crisis in the financial markets? How did it come to this? Who is responsible? Alongside the portraits, there are analyses, field descriptions, essays, and a glossary. The focus is on the emergence of mercenary armies that fought against each other while simultaneously waging a campaign against bank customers, publicly traded companies, entire economies, and ultimately.