Experts on Financial Policy Agree: Wriston was Ahead of His Time

Leaders like Henry Kissinger, Steve Forbes, and George P. Shultz praise Walter Wriston's new posthumous work.

(PRWEB) July 9, 2008 -- A new collection of work by Walter B. Wriston is making waves in the financial world. Years before the internet and technology changed the business world forever, Wriston, responsible for building Citi into the first global bank, could sense the changing tide. The new book, Bits, Bytes, and Balance Sheets, is a sobering retrospective of how far we've come and how far we still need to go.

When Walter B. Wriston passed away three years ago, the world lost one of its greatest bankers. Mr. Wriston was a financial services pioneer who was at the forefront of technological innovations. Without Wriston, we may not have the ATM or the universal credit card system, two things most of us cannot do without today. And now, in light of his passing, many world leaders in both the political and financial spheres are praising his life's work. That work, including Wriston's speeches on the future of finance, has been collected in the book Bits, Bytes, and Balance Sheets.

Walt Wriston was a legend in business and finance until his untimely death in 2005. He has now applied his formidable intellect to the Information Revolution, and deals with clarity, insight, and understanding of how profoundly the world has been transformed by the new information technology.

Henry Kissinger said of the book, "Walt Wriston was a legend in business and finance until his untimely death in 2005. He has now applied his formidable intellect to the Information Revolution, and deals with clarity, insight, and understanding of how profoundly the world has been transformed by the new information technology."

The Wall Street legend was truly the ultimate capitalist. As a free-market champion, he railed against government regulation and embraced the newest technologies of his day to quickly expand the reach of his bank's services. His parting words to the financial world are striking, not just because so many of his predictions have come true, but because so many of them inevitably will. "Wriston gives us ideas to use, insights into what the future holds, and suggestions as to what can be done to best achieve a bright and promising future. Then, just as Walt always did, we can enjoy that future even as it's unfolding," says George P. Shultz, former United States Secretary of State.

Steve Forbes adds his voice to those supporting Wriston's theories:"Walt Wriston, who virtually invented modern banking, was one of our era's great entrepreneurs and most original and penetrating minds, as evidenced in this absorbing book." The major players on the world's stage are in agreement:Bits, Bytes, and Balance Sheetsserves as a visionary call for those in finance, government, industry, and public policy to understand the new economic rules of engagement in our digital economy. Now new generations of financiers can learn to see the future as clearly as Wriston did.

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