Lenin in Imperialism talks about the emergence of finance capital as the major driver of imperial conquests. These days we have seen trends of “financialisation” of western economies coupled with deindustrialisation.
I guess what confuses me is why this trend towards financialisation is a thing where you cede real material industrial power in favour of large banks.
This. Michael Hudson is the best source to go to about this topic. You can also find a number of videos (he has been interviewed on Ben Norton’s channel and he frequently appears in discussions with Radhika Desai) where he explains a lot of the ideas in his books in a more concise form that you can listen to if you are not that into reading.