Talk to UK newspaper editors and they will tell you that, by and large, they are happy with the system of self-regulation regarding complaints. Anyone who thinks it provides an easy ride, they will say, does not understand that no one likes their peers marking their homework.
But this is precisely the point, say regulatory campaigners: it’s the press marking their own work, and the outcome, while sometimes critical, usually is not hard-hitting enough.
I was reminded of this continuing debate by publication of Ben Bernanke’s review of the Bank of England’s performance over the past two years.
Mr Bernanke, one of the most highly respected of recent central bankers, was asked by the Bank to examine its methods and practices. The former US Federal Reserve chairman took his brief seriously, spending more than seven months and conducting more than 60 face-to-face interviews with Bank of England staff and market participants and sitting in on its Monetary Policy Committee’s November 2023 rate-setting round.
Doubtless all that was most uncomfortable for governor Andrew Bailey and his team. Mr Bernanke’s 80-page report does not hold back, dishing out criticism and making 12 recommendations for change. Except it does pull its punches in one respect: Mr Bernanke does not say what he thinks of Mr Bailey and his MPC colleagues. He does not comment on the way they work and whether they should reform their all-important forecasts for inflation and the economy.
That, you feel, was a step too far. But this was a Bank and its hierarchy, let us not forget, that failed to predict the energy price spike following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that didn’t foretell the impact of the pandemic on global trade and supply chains, assumed that workers would pick up from where they left off once the outbreak had dissipated and the lockdowns ended and didn’t realise lifestyle patterns had altered, possibly forever.
Human behaviour is never a Bank strength: it also did not call how price inflation would lead to salary inflation, that rather than stomach high prices, workers would immediately seek more money.
That’s quite a roll-call. Nevertheless, Mr Bernanke turns a convenient blind eye, preferring to dwell on outdated computers and data sourcing. He does turn the screw in places, comparing the Bank’s forecasting record, for instance, with six other central banks and finding it was the worst at understanding the dynamics in the jobs market, consistently forecasting higher unemployment that never materialised.
This can beg the question as to what Mr Bernanke's review is for? But here the peers taking a close look kicks in again. Having asked the esteemed American for his time and effort, and of course, his expertise, Mr Bailey and chums are not able to turn round and ignore him.
They’ve accepted every one of his recommendations, saying they will “act on all” of them. It’s a pity there weren’t 13, 14, 15 recommendations requiring some tough soul-searching by Mr Bailey and co regarding their own positions, but there are not, so a dozen it is.
Still, as Mr Bailey stresses – possibly out of a sense of relief – that marks part of a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to modernise. So, he was quick to note, an IT upgrade is already under way.
The Bank, like the nation, is a creature of habit, struggling to adapt, reluctant to give up old ways for the new.
It’s much easier to blame the tools and not the people, especially if they are your pals and drawn from the same social milieu. It raises another issue, which is that Mr Bernanke is caustic about the forecasting technology, known as Compass, so why did it need an outsider to say it? Why was Mr Bailey not on top of the problem, why was he content to chug along in an underpowered car?
The car analogy is apposite because Mr Bernanke warns that updating the model will be “like fixing a car when the engine is running”. In other words, there may well be some serious glitches ahead.
There are moments reading it, and this is one of them, when Mr Bernanke could be talking about the state of Britain overall, not its central bank. Staff are overstretched and insufficiently experienced, they move around too frequently.
The Bank, like the nation, is a creature of habit, struggling to adapt, reluctant to give up old ways for the new. It hesitates to take on board geopolitical crises, defaulting towards the notion of “stay calm”. The rest of the world may be panicking but not it seems, the British.
The MPC has a funny attitude towards the meaning of the word “target”. The target rate for UK inflation is 2 per cent. It’s a target, a goal. But the Committee treated it with certainty, as the baseline, saying their forecasts would fall back to it over time and that consumer and market expectations were fixated on 2 per cent as the likely result – when recent reality has shown this to be woefully low.
Communications must be improved. There’s too great a fixation on numbers and not enough on what the members of the MPC actually think. He calls for an improvement to communications but stops short of advocating the US practice of requiring the members of the Fed to publish their own analysis of interest rates and where they’re going.
Not only would it put the UK’s MPC members on the spot, including Mr Bailey, but it would show if the body were prone, as some – among them Mr Bernanke – suspect, of falling into “group think”.
Mr Bailey is let off. But only for so long. He’s got Mr Bernanke’s 12 steps, once he’s pursued them, what then? He’s run out of road and excuses. In one respect, the US central banking veteran has dealt the UK incumbents a favour. In another, they’ve nowhere else to turn, they can’t instigate another peer inspection. The future starts here, post-Bernanke, and that doesn’t feel so cosy after all.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE%20SQUAD
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The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight Championship AJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v tba
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ETHE%20SPECS%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EEngine%3A%203.5-litre%20V6%0D%3Cbr%3ETransmission%3A%209-speed%20automatc%0D%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20279hp%0D%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20350Nm%0D%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh250%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The biog
Family: wife, four children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren
Reads: Newspapers, historical, religious books and biographies
Education: High school in Thatta, a city now in Pakistan
Regrets: Not completing college in Karachi when universities were shut down following protests by freedom fighters for the British to quit India
Happiness: Work on creative ideas, you will also need ideals to make people happy
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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Andor
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
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if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes
The package
Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January
The info
Visit www.gokorea.co.uk
Neymar's bio
Total club appearances 411
Total goals scored 241
Appearances for Barca 186
Goals scored for Barca 105
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
Results:
First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15
Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
STAGE 4 RESULTS
1 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 4:51:51
2 David Dekker (NED) Team Jumbo-Visma
3 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal
4 Elia Viviani (ITA) Cofidis
5 Matteo Moschetti (ITA) Trek-Segafredo
General Classification
1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 12:50:21
2 Adam Yates (GBR) Teamn Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:43
3 Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:03
4 Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:43
5 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
