At the recent Lawrence Scholars in Business banking summit, alumnus Rob Bearman suggested that a young person interested in a career in banking would do well to learn all s/he could about the recent financial crisis. He suggested Andrew Sorkin’s Too Big to Fail as a good start. Another place for a more academic flavor is the recent Journal of Economic Perspectives Symposium on Financial Plumbing.
The list looks like a good place to start an independent study project. I can’t speak for the quality of the articles, except to say that the JEP authors are generally recognized area experts, and the pieces tend to be very readable and heavily documented.
Enjoy!