This is a remarkable account of the historical circumstances, the geographical context and the many institutional factors which gave rise to the emergence of international financial centres over the past 900 years.The author’s range of knowledge is reflected in the following texts mentioned in the book which made important contributions to the development of the financial sector [ ]. In addition to providing an insightful explanation of how technological innovations have revolutionised financial trading in recent years, this book provides an invaluable and necessary context for a deeper understanding of the historical evolution of innovations in financial transactions, explaining among many other things some of the earliest attempt to model risk-taking when cargoes were being transported through pirate-infested seas. It also explains how risk taking in more recent times has become increasingly challenging to evaluate because of the difficulties associated with monitoring transactions being conducted by sophisticated computer programmes in milliseconds, and which are also open to attack from software viruses. [ ] To explain the widening gulf that emerged over time between economics and ethical considerations, Coispeau points to the influence of David Ricardo, but his historical analysis also points to the greatly reduced influence of religion in the business world and particularly in the financial sector in recent times. Without specifically setting out to do so, Coispeau’s history provides a rich background to the significant role played by religion in the earlier stages of financial history. For many readers, the most fascinating part of the book will be the last section which provides important insights into the ‘Great Recession’. If, according to Coispeau, it took scholars 500 years to fully understand the nature of the 14th century banking collapse, one wonders how long it will take us to fully appreciate the significance of these recent catastrophic events.