Gimme a Crisis: In the Room with Global Banker Rick Waugh

by Howard Green

Bestselling author Howard Green profiles former Scotiabank CEO Rick Waugh and sketches an unprecedented and up-close picture of what it is like to run a global bank, often during financial chaos, while leading more than 80,000 employees in more than fifty countries.

From navigating a violent economic default and loss in Argentina and a bail-out of the Dominican Republic to surviving the global financial crisis, actively promoting women in banking, and helping secure the NBA’s Raptors for Toronto, Rick Waugh was in the room. Green captures the riveting stories, intense conflicts, and pivotal moments that occurred at one of Canada’s biggest banks, a significant player in international finance.

Waugh’s clear-eyed approach to managing risk offers lessons for steering through economic uncertainty, lessons that will be increasingly relevant as we enter a new era of global insecurity. His simple when assessing deals, investments, or major decisions, know your downside, never calculate the upside. Let risk guide decision-making, and the upside will take care of itself.

Interweaving extensive interviews with Waugh over the course of a more than twenty-year relationship with the author and scores of interviews with others who worked closely with Waugh or intersected with him, Gimme a Crisis takes readers into the executive suite, revealing the rapid-fire, pressurized decision-making that took place during the most volatile—and harrowing—period in Canada’s financial system since the Great Depression.

367 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 7, 2025

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Gimme a Crisis: In the Room With Global Banker Rick Waugh" by Howard Green, a prominent Canadian business journalist, is not my usual kind of reading fare. But I had a special interest in the subject matter. I worked for 28 years in an internal support role at Scotiabank, where Waugh spent his 40+-year career, so I'm familiar with many of the events and people mentioned in this book. ;) When I heard about it last fall, I immediately added it to my reading list.

If you're not interested in a book about risk management, Scotiabank, or Canadian banking generally (or even just banking, period), this might not be book for you. For me, though, it was a bit of a blast from the past!

The central theme of the book is that Rick Waugh, the personable CEO of Scotiabank from 2004 to late 2013, was a master crisis manager. (Author Green points out his father was a fireman -- perhaps a gift for putting out fires, literally and figuratively, ran in the family.) During Waugh's tenure as a top executive and, eventually, CEO, Scotiabank -- long known as Canada's most international bank, with broad global operations, particularly in the Caribbean -- experienced one crisis after another -- most notably in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and the 2008 global financial meltdown (from which Canadian banks emerged relatively unscathed). The book also details other highlights of Waugh's career, including his role in bringing an NBA team (the Raptors) to Toronto, and advancing the careers of women at the bank.

Amusingly, there's a chapter (excerpted in the Toronto Star a few months ago -- which is where I first heard about this book) about Waugh's encounter with Donald Trump (!), back in the 1980s when Trump was still just a real estate mogul, looking for financing for his next project, and Waugh ran Scotiabank's New York City office. (The bank did not take Trump on as a client.)

The book was maybe a bit long and a bit repetitive in spots. It occasionally lapses into financial jargon and dizzying explanations of complex financial instruments that made my eyes glaze over. ;) But overall, I thought it was very well-researched, well-written and entertaining, and that it rang true to my own personal experiences and observations about the bank and the man.

4.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded (after some internal debate) down to 4 stars on Goodreads.

[Pankaj · Rating 3 out of 5]

My comments are biased. I was a Scotiabanker from 1997 - 2018 and worked closely with, Scotiabankersseveral of the Executives over this period identified by Howard Green in his book. I started at Global Risk Management and credit risk was sacrosanct at all levels of the Bank. I recall the aura and the sanctity accorded to RPC (Risk Policy Committee) meetings!

There are stories and "Rick-speak" anecdotes that did the rounds and created the persona that Mr. Green has also illustrated through his interviews.

Therein also lies the challenge for the author of such a book. It is easy to find/quote complimentary narratives but a hard task to be able to find a person or a quote that can be placed on record if it goes against the grain of the protagonist or their personality in the public versus private domains.

I witnessed first hand, the ability of Mr. Waugh and his Executives - Sabi Marwah, Wendy Hannam, Anatol Von Hahn who displayed vision, foresight, risk assessment and the allocation of resources to create, for instance and among other many other special projects, the Bank’s Multicultural Banking unit. It was the first time that a Canadian financial institution developed and extended financial services and products for the largest and fastest growing market segment in the Retail space - the new immigrants arriving in Canada. Over a decade later, all the other Canadian banks are still trying to play catch-up with Scotiabank's innovative offerings and resulting success in its rapid growth and a share of the Retail segment.

I very much enjoyed reading this book because of a sense of 'belonging' and 'vested equity' (including shareholding!). However, I am giving it a 3 Star rating because it is very repetitive and keeps returning to the theme over and over again of Rick Waugh's risk management and deal making abilities. I am not sure if the performance of Scotiabank's shares over his tenure (2004 - 2013) bear testament to this. In any event, Mr. Waugh had a great team of management and such leaders are very difficult to find these days. They worked and knew how to play hard and stood up for all Scotiabankers and our customers

[Ruth Mcbride · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having worked at Scotiabank for 37.5 years and finishing my career as Vice President in our Industry Leading Automotive Finance Division I found this book a fascinating read. Understanding Rick Waugh’s leadership during the many crisis’s which arose during his time with the Bank and getting a behind the scenes look at what was happening but a never revealed to employees view of what was actually going on, was very enlightening. Since I knew and worked with and for many of the players discussed in this book from Anatol, Jim Meek, Bob Chisholm, Alberta Cefis, and Dieter it was interesting to see how they described Rick and what their interactions were during some of these difficult times. It is nice to have the history of the Bank during Rick’s tenure written down. It did feel like a familial environment at Scotiabank with everyone pulling together with less technology (binder twine and paper clips as we used to say) and outworking our competition to get the job done. It is nice to finally see the stock price where it ought to have been many years ago based on the efforts everyone put in to achieving One Team, One Goal!

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again I’m reading a book out of my comfort level. However Green makes the world of business and banking accessible. This time the topic is Scotiabank and its previous CEO, Rick Waugh. Waugh specialises in solving and preventing crisis. He is a master in the art of the deal. The chapter on Argentina was like reading a thriller. Waugh, because of Canada’s strict banking laws, was able to successfully navigate the 2008 financial crisis. He helped bring the Raptors to Toronto and pushed for gender parity in banking. Great read.

[John Way · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding book that is more than a biography of a larger than life Canadian and international banker. It is a fascinating tale of a banker who lived and coped with the crises of the late 20th and early 21st centuries in much of the Western Hemisphere including the failure of the Argentinian financial system and the 2008 international meltdown. It traces his rise from teller to CEO of a storied Canadian bank that has survived almost 200 years. Both the research and analysis by Mr Green were impressive.

[Jess T · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Very well researched and complex banking concepts were well explained in simple, accessible terms. A little repetitive and dry at times but I suppose that’s to be expected given at the core of it, you’re reading a book about one of Canadian banking.