A Financial Tale of Two Cities

A Financial Tale of Two Cities describes the intense commercial rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne over a period of some 150 years. While Sydney was established nearly half a century before Melbourne, the great wealth generated by the Victorian goldfields soon ensured that Melbourne held an unassailable position as the continent's leading and richest centre of commerce. Melbourne retained this supremacy through the greater part of the twentieth century, but from the 1970s a dynamic environment in Sydney challenged Melbourne's financial dominance. It was clear by the end of the 1990s that Sydney had become Australia's largest financial centre. The story of this contest for commercial supremacy is largely based on Jim Bain's own long experience in the Australian financial-services industry, and particularly his exposure to the competition and often fierce rivalry that existed between the leading Melbourne- and Sydney-based banks, merchant banks, fund managers and stockbrokers. Bain focuses on the key roles played by several financial institutions - and certain key personalities - over many decades. The book includes some 70 photos of the main players in this remarkable tussle for top-financial-city status.