Mideast wealth funds likely to come at a high price for Irish bank staff

RUDYARD Kipling wrote: “Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” Well, never say never, Rudyard.

If the speculation that Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are planning to take large stakes in the Irish banking sector is well founded, it will mark another tiny shift eastwards of the world’s financial centre of gravity.

The transfer of power arising from decisive shifts in underlying economic weights is never smooth and steady. The direction of change, however, is relentless and the current global crisis has provided numerous opportunities for the rebalancing to move quite a bit further both in reality and, importantly, in terms of perception.