Dangerous Markets: Managing in Financial Crises

A corporate guide to crisis management in volatile financial markets

Current financial crises in Argentina, Japan, and Turkey are being played out on the front pages of newspapers, and these are just the most recent financial crises that have rolled across the globe in the last decade and whose far-reaching impact hurts business around the world. Dangerous Markets: Managing in Financial Crises recognizes that no global corporation or financial institution can afford to ignore the potential of a financial storm and will help top management and financial professionals navigate through this often disastrous maze.

While many books discuss financial crises and their ramifications, none has presented an action plan for managing these storms—until now. Dangerous Markets: Managing in Financial Crises presents a method that allows executives and financial professionals to recognize the warning signs of a financial crisis and act appropriately before the situation spirals out of control. Based on years of research and practice in cleaning up the mess, McKinsey consultants Barton, Newell, and Wilson reveal the warning signs of potential financial catastrophes and provide unique principles that can be followed to shape and manage a strategy for survival.

DOMINIC BARTON is a director with McKinsey & Company and managing partner of the Firm's Korea practice. He also is a leader in the Firm's financial institutions practice. Barton has advised the Korean Financial Supervisory Commission on restructuring their banking system as well as strategized with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He led a major McKinsey study on how to transform companies into sustainably high performers and has led numerous studies for private and public sector clients in the financial sector. He holds an M. Phil. in economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and a BA in economics from the University of British Columbia.

ROBERTO NEWELL is a former director at McKinsey & Company where he led projects for governments and private sector clients in financial crisis. Dr. Newell has served clients immersed in financial crises throughout the Americas, including Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, the United States, and Venezuela. He holds a BA and MA from the Universidad de las Americas in Mexico and a PhD in economics from the University of Texas at Austin. A Mexican citizen, he is currently CEO of FESSA (Fondo de las Empresas Expropiadas del Sector Azucarero), a Mexican government entity charged with turning around and privatizing twenty-seven failed sugar mills. With Luis Rubio Frieberg, Newell wrote an award-winning book on Mexico's financial crisis of the 1980s, entitled Mexico's Dilemma: The Political Origins of Economic Crisis.

GREGORY WILSON is a principal in McKinsey & Company's Washington, D.C. office, specializing in strategic issues that affect private and public sector clients in the financial services industry. Wilson has worked on financial sector restructuring around the world, including many recent crisis countries in Asia and South America, and has conducted numerous client studies on policy, strategic, regulatory, and structural issues. He holds a BA in history, and politics and government from Ohio Wesleyan University. From 1974-1976 he attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy where he studied international business and law. Prior to joining McKinsey, Wilson served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Treasury Department during the U.S. savings and loan crisis.