Central bankers are the real unacceptable face of capitalism

Central bankers think extreme monetary policy helps stimulates economies. Merryn Somerset Webb explains why she's not so sure.

The unacceptable face of modern capitalism. That's a phrase you will have heard a lot recently. It's also one that you are going to hear a lot more in the context of BHS, of our new prime minister's campaign to improve corporate behaviour, and of the financial industry's attempt to have a go at doing something about executive pay (the Investment Association has come up with a few feeble suggestions).

However, you are unlikely to hear it in the context of what I suspect historians will see as the really unacceptable face of modern capitalism the way it is distorted by our institutions. This week RBS sent 1.3 million customers a letter notifying them of a change in their terms and conditions: they can now be charged interest on cash they have on deposit at the bank. That isn't going to happen right now. But it makes it clear that our banks are taking seriously a possibility that was considered totally nuts only a few years ago that the Bank of England could cut rates below zero.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.