By Mary Kathleen Flynn, The Deal Pipeline
"He knew more about finance than anyone at that time," says New York University business professor Richard Sylla about Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the US Treasury. A leading Hamilton scholar, Sylla is chairman of the Museum of American Finance, where he was involved in the curation of the current Hamilton exhibit and where The Deal Pipeline's video interview was shot.Sylla credits Hamilton with transforming the country's finances, which were essentially bankrupt in the 1780s, into a modern financial system complete with a solid currency, a central bank and a healthy securities market. Sylla also outlines how Hamilton would have reviewed today's banking industry.