Refuge from revolutionary rage

Outsize TV screens were showing graphic live footage of the clashes in Cairo's Tahrir Square, but watching the soaring musical fountains at the foot of Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, one banker confidently dismissed doom and bust scenarios.

Despite talk of an Arab revolution, the Gulf’s one-time capital of bling was awash with rumours of hundreds of millions of pounds, dirhams and dinars flooding into local banks. While ATMs and branches were closing in Cairo, they were wide open in Dubai, and wealthy Egyptians (and other investors) were not waiting for a signed agreement on the fate of the Last Pharaoh. “The money is not going to London or Geneva,” said the banker. “It is coming here. This is how far we have come.” Dubai’s financial institutions have been the somewhat surprised but happy recipients of panic cash from no...