What happens when one forgotten Wall Street institution appears at the crossroads of finance, intelligence, political symbolism, esoteric history, and more than one of the most controversial episodes in modern America?
This investigation traces the remarkable history of Bankers Trust — from its origins within the J. P. Morgan financial network and its rôle in the rise of the Federal Reserve, through its pyramid-crowned headquarters at 14 Wall Street, to its later acquisition of Alex. Brown and eventual absorption into Deutsche Bank.
Along the way, unexpected connections emerge: Nicholas Roerich’s mysterious “wandering stone,” Henry Wallace’s fascination with esoteric symbolism, the appearance of the reverse Great Seal on the dollar bill, CIA executive Alvin Bernard A. B. “Buzzy” Krongard’s ties to Bankers Trust-Alex. Brown, the unresolved questions surrounding pre-9/11 options trading, and the destruction of the Deutsche Bank Building beside the World Trade Center.
Rather than arguing for a grand conspiracy per se, we examine the dense network of (documented) historical relationships through our usual pattern-detecting lenses of symbolism and Jungian synchronicity.
But, whether viewed as a patchwork of coincidence, an exploration in psychogeography or archetypal recurrence, or (indeed) bona-fide evidence of deeper historical forces, the story of Bankers Trust offers a striking case study in the strange ways power, symbolism, finance, and myth can intersect.
Read the full article on Substack, here: https://matthewjbell.substack.com/p/the-bank-that-touched-everything
