At first glance, Andreas Dombret’s office at the brutalist Bundesbank building in Frankfurt epitomises German banker clichés: black leather furniture; glass tables; chrome-encased lighting.
But there are bursts of colour amid the industrial aesthetic. Electric purple and red blare from a painting by Markus Prachensky. The suit Mr Dombret is wearing is lined in bright orange. The scene hints at a distinctive feature of his eight years on the board of Germany’s central bank, which came to an end in April. The German American, who brought dynamism and a large Rolodex of contacts with him to the institution, is something of an extrovert in a world of introverts and technocrats.
Mr Dombret’s time at the Bundesbank has been all about peeling back the layers of complexity inherent in banking. Behind his desk on the 12th floor is an abstract blue drawing by Arnulf Rainer, an Austrian artist (like Prachensky) best known for sketches that obscure other images. “For me, art is very emotional,” says Mr Dombret, 58. “I try to see the artists themselves and understand what they’re doing and why. For me, understanding is more important than owning.”
All this talk of art makes it hard to imagine him slogging through the intricacies of banking regulation. But finance had, in fact, been his life before the Bundesbank. Before he joined the central bank, he’d been vice chairman of Bank of America’s European operations. That job capped a long career that began at Deutsche Bank with stopovers at JP Morgan and Rothschild. “I wanted to build a bridge between the banking sector and the Bundesbank which goes beyond a technocratic relationship,” he says. “I was trying to enhance the understanding in the banking sector of what we do and enhance the understanding in the Bundesbank of what banks do.”
On the central bank board, Mr Dombret earned a reputation for being a team player but also for pushing back if he felt more could be done. He had to call upon both traits when, within days of his starting the job in May 2010, Greece needed its first bailout as the country’s credit crunch became a sovereign debt crisis.
The Bundesbank, which held twice-daily crisis meetings when Mr Dombret joined, sought with mixed success to limit the European Central Bank’s support for states struggling with their debt. An ECB government bond purchase programme launched in 2010 prompted Bundesbank President Axel Weber and ECB chief economist Jürgen Stark, a former Bundesbank vice president, to resign in protest the following year. The Bundesbank argued in 2012 that another, yet-to-be-deployed plan to buy bonds to stem the debt crisis would amount to financing governments by printing money, a practice that caused hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic of the 1920s and left many Germans scarred.
For Mr Dombret, there’s been no let-up since. The Greek crisis threatened to break up the euro zone, which has been a boon to the German export-oriented economy that the Bundesbank watches over. Deutsche Bank, the country’s largest lender, was hit by billions of dollars of fines for misconduct and declining investment banking returns as it lurched from one setback to another; this was a particular headache for Mr Dombret, who was put in charge of banking supervision in 2014.
He spent his final months amid gale warnings from across the Atlantic, with US President Donald Trump pushing tariffs that could rock global trade and promising to loosen financial regulations even as Europe tightens them.
As if those challenges were insufficiently robust, there was Brexit to boot.
Through the windows of the Bundesbank, Frankfurt’s rush to prepare for Britain’s departure from the European Union is immediately evident. In a thicket of construction cranes, builders are finishing office towers that will accommodate bankers from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. “Where the bankers end up is a purely private decision, not mine,” Mr Dombret points out. But, he says, he’s talked to plenty of them right there in his office as they scope out the German regulatory landscape. Here, he says, “many German and international bankers have sat trying to understand how we would rule and how we would govern and supervise those banks. We made no promises. We did not give out any goodies or any freebies at all.”
Prior to his departure, Mr Dombret made it clear that he believes Brexit means that, as keen as Germany is to keep the closest possible links with Britain, the Bundesbank will lose a natural ally in regulatory matters. He’s done his part to throw a bone or two to the UK. He floated the idea that swaps clearing could remain in London after Brexit. That put Mr Dombret at odds with France’s markets regulator, which pushed a proposal that euro-denominated contracts be cleared inside the bloc.
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Read more:
Germany's Widemann eyes ECB top job, Finland's Liikanen less bullish
The little German city with big financial clout
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“He gives some hard messages, particularly on the subject of Brexit,” says Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the UK Financial Conduct Authority. After the Brexit referendum in June 2016, Mr Bailey says of the UK: "We took the view that we had to be even more engaged on the international stage than we might otherwise be because of the risk of becoming isolationist and we don’t want that. Andreas has been a very good interlocutor from that point of view.”
Mr Dombret stands for the kind of globalism that populism has sought to stanch - not just in the US, the UK, parts of Europe, and elsewhere, but also in Germany, where the country’s two largest political parties have experienced a decline in appeal in favor of less mainstream movements.
During Mr Dombret’s tenure at the Bundesbank, populism loomed large in the background as global regulators, including the US Federal Reserve and the ECB, remained deadlocked over new international rules designed to prevent another financial crisis. Countries led by the US wanted tough limits on the latitude banks have to calculate their own risk, while Europe and its allies opposed that approach, worrying that it would choke off lending. Both sides engaged in brinkmanship on the Basel III standards, with Mr Dombret and other German officials publicly threatening to walk away if the US didn’t soften its stance. Ultimately, both sides compromised after almost seven years of fine-tuning the tougher standards on the amount of capital that banks must have on hand to withstand losses.
Because of his global interests and incessant travels, Mr Dombret became known informally as the Bundesbank’s foreign minister: He flew the equivalent of 200 times around the globe during his tenure, helping to keep lines of communication open to his peers and capitalising on the trust he’d built up with them over years. “He could really read the dynamics at financial institutions,” says Agustín Carstens, the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements who was governor of Mexico’s central bank for eight years until last November. “There was real strength in leveraging that private-sector experience with his role at the central bank. That’s a very powerful combination.”
Mr Dombret says his energy and his drive to get things done sometimes tipped into impatience. “What I really disliked during my eight years was there are some wrong reflexes out there,” he says. “Some bankers regularly criticise each and every piece of regulation which comes out, and many supervisors and regulators defend each and every piece of regulation.”
But he could see both sides when he needed to see them, he says. A forceful advocate of his beliefs, Mr Dombret wasn’t “afraid of conflict,” says Stefan Ingves, governor of Sweden’s central bank and chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. “But he also realised when the time for deal making arrived and was willing to reach a compromise that was in the interest of everybody.”
As his days at the Bundesbank ticked down, Mr Dombret, who was born in the US to German parents and is a citizen of both countries, couldn’t help but wonder when the next financial crisis would come and what the cause would be. What would worry him most? “The cyber area,” he says. “That is something which is very untested. Contagion could come very quickly and could also have a very damaging effect, which I don’t think we really understand now.” Mr Dombret tried to get the Bundesbank to devote more bandwidth to cyber vulnerabilities but was rebuffed, and cybersecurity isn’t seen as a core responsibility of the central bank.
Effecting change there isn’t easy. “When you first join the Bundesbank, the institution shapes you,” says Carl-Ludwig Thiele, whose tenure on the central bank’s board coincided with Mr Dombret’s. “But after a couple of years, you get a chance to shape the institution, and Andreas has done that.”
There’s plenty of unfinished business, some of it in Germany’s backyard. Mr Dombret - whose replacement, European Parliament member Burkhard Balz, will join the board in September - has been vocal in calling for Europe to tackle the mountain of loans that went bad after the financial crisis. Germany’s domestic banks also continue to be more exposed to the region’s record-low interest rates because of their focus on the bread and butter of deposits and loans. The Bundesbank has highlighted this risk, but Mr Dombret says it’s not up to supervisors to dictate a bank’s strategy.
German banks were happy to hear that. “We were worried when he joined the Bundesbank because of the time he spent at Anglo-Saxon banks,” says Alexander Wüerst, CEO of Kreissparkasse Köln, Germany’s third-largest savings bank, which serves the region around Cologne. “We were keen for him to listen to small and medium-size banks, and he ended up really showing neutrality.”
In Mr Dombret’s old office, a shelf filled with trophies commemorated his past as a banker. “My tombstones,” he says, borrowing a term he picked up during his investment banking days. As for what’s next, he says he doesn’t know. What he does know is that he doesn’t want those “tombstones” to hold him back. For Mr Dombret, the life of an artist such as Rainer is a tale of reinvention and struggle for greatness even after you’ve passed your peak.
“Normally you have one phase as an artist where you’re really good,” he says. “For Arnulf Rainer, that was pretty much at the beginning of his career.
"Guess how tough it must be if you are best when you are 30.”
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.”
RESULTS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E9pm%3A%20Maiden%20(PA)%20Dh70%2C000%20(Dirt)%202%2C000m%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWinner%3A%20Mubhir%20Al%20Ain%2C%20Antonio%20Fresu%20(jockey)%2C%20Ahmed%20Al%20Mehairbi%20(trainer)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E9.30pm%3A%20Handicap%20(TB)%20Dh70%2C000%20(D)%202%2C000m%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWinner%3A%20Exciting%20Days%2C%20Oscar%20Chavez%2C%20Doug%20Watson%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E10pm%3A%20Al%20Ain%20Cup%20%E2%80%93%20Prestige%20(PA)%20Dh100%2C000%20(D)%202%2C000m%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWinner%3A%20Suny%20Du%20Loup%2C%20Marcelino%20Rodrigues%2C%20Hamad%20Al%20Marar%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E10.30pm%3A%20Maiden%20(PA)%20Dh70%2C000%20(D)%201%2C800m%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWinner%3A%20Jafar%20Des%20Arnets%2C%20Oscar%20Chavez%2C%20Ahmed%20Al%20Mehairbi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E11pm%3A%20Wathba%20Stallions%20Cup%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(PA)%20Dh70%2C000%20(D)%201%2C600m%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWinner%3A%20Taj%20Al%20Izz%2C%20Richard%20Mullen%2C%20Ibrahim%20Al%20Hadhrami%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E11.30pm%3A%20Maiden%20(PA)%20Dh70%2C000%20(D)%201%2C400m%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWinner%3A%20Majdy%2C%20Antonio%20Fresu%2C%20Jean%20de%20Roualle%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E12am%3A%20Maiden%20(PA)%20Dh70%2C000%20(D)%201%2C400m%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWinner%3A%20Hamloola%2C%20Sam%20Hitchcott%2C%20Salem%20Al%20Ketbi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Results
4pm: Al Bastakiya – Listed (TB) $150,000 (Dirt) 1,900m; Winner: Panadol, Mickael Barzalona (jockey), Salem bin Ghadayer (trainer)
4.35pm: Dubai City Of Gold – Group 2 (TB) $228,000 (Turf) 2,410m; Winner: Walton Street, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
5.10pm: Mahab Al Shimaal – Group 3 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Canvassed, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
5.45pm: Burj Nahaar – Group 3 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
6.20pm: Jebel Hatta – Group 1 (TB) $260,000 (T) 1,800m; Winner: Lord Glitters, Daniel Tudhope, David O’Meara
6.55pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 – Group 1 (TB) $390,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Salute The Soldier, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass
7.30pm: Nad Al Sheba – Group 3 (TB) $228,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Final Song, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
THE LOWDOWN
Romeo Akbar Walter
Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
Kalra's feat
- Becomes fifth batsman to score century in U19 final
- Becomes second Indian to score century in U19 final after Unmukt Chand in 2012
- Scored 122 in youth Test on tour of England
- Bought by Delhi Daredevils for base price of two million Indian rupees (Dh115,000) in 2018 IPL auction
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0
De Bruyne (70')
Man of the Match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dual%20electric%20motors%20with%20102kW%20battery%20pack%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E570hp%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20890Nm%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERange%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Up%20to%20428km%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh1%2C700%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Greatest Royal Rumble match listing
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 ChampionshipAJ 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 Rusev
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Pari
Produced by: Clean Slate Films (Anushka Sharma, Karnesh Sharma) & KriArj Entertainment
Director: Prosit Roy
Starring: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor, Mansi Multani
Three stars
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
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
