Hit HBO finance show Industry could use an audit over banking world flubs, fans say: Plot isnt always realistic

The hit television show “Industry” gives viewers an inside look at the lives of twenty-something Wall Street-types — full of sex, drugs, high finance, and lots of banking errors.The HBO blockbuster, currently in its third season, has drawn the consternation of fans over its lack of attention to detail about how the finance industry really works, according to The Wall Street Journal.For instance, they note that one episode showing traders working feverishly on a company’s initial public offering was out of touch since IPOs are not usually a task for traders.Another plot line had the bank nearly failing because of a botched pivot to “ESG” investing. “They get the vibes to a tee,” Tom Morgan, a 43-year-old who was a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch in London for a dozen years, told The Wall Street Journal.

“But the plot isn’t always realistic.”“Industry” follows a group of graduates as they jumpstart their careers at the London offices of Pierpont & Co, a fictional bank likely inspired by JPMorgan Chase.The famed 19th century banker J.P.

Morgan’s middle name was Pierpont.The drama series premiered in 2020 and has been hailed as “the new ‘Succession,’” which followed the family owners of a global media giant and racked up Emmys during its four-season run.“Industry” paints a picture of an intense, overbearing work environment, with screaming matches on the trading floor and even the death of a young employee.“As the story built out, we decided that we were actually making a drama for HBO, not a documentary for PBS,” Konrad Kay, one of the show’s two creators and a former salesman for Morgan Stanley in London, told The Journal. Kay said the show “feels truthful to us in a way that’s far more interesting to us than the reality of whether it would happen or not.”“Industry” plays up the scandalous aspects of the traders’ lives – boozing, cocaine and sex – to a point that many finance professionals call unrea...