Feature: A life in print and in the City

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A life in print and in the City

Peter Bareau looks back on the career of his father, Paul, an influential and respected journalist who wrote 'The Economic Scene' columns for the LIBF for 25 years

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Paul Bareau will be a familiar name to many members of The London Institute of Banking & Finance because of 'The Economic Scene' columns he wrote, first in the institute’s Journal and finally in its Banking World, from 1958 to 1983. Most, however, will not know much about his life, nor perhaps even about some of the profound economic and financial changes he analysed for the Institute for 25 years.

Paul Bareau was born in 1901 in Antwerp, son of a Walloon father and a French-speaking Flemish mother. When neutral Belgium was invaded by the German army in 1914, Paul, his younger sister and their widowed father fled to England. Thanks to the generosity of the English shown to the many Belgian refugees, the Bareau family settled down in south London and Paul was awarded a scholarship to nearby Dulwich College.

He did well and after leaving school studied at night for a B. Com. at the London School of Economics and worked by day at the City branch of the Banque Belge.

Paul’s chosen career was financial journalism, for which his education, ability as a communicator and explainer, and delight in the English language well prepared him. He started in 1925 at The Statist, a weekly ‘independent journal of finance and trade’, working in a relatively small team where he could start to learn his craft. By 1934, Paul had moved with his mentor, Oscar Hobson, the former editor of Financial News, to the News Chronicle, where he worked as deputy City editor.

Peter Bareau

Peter Bareau was chief executive of NS&I (1996-2002) and is the son of Paul Bareau. His biography of his father is: Paul Bareau (1901-2000) – a life, available from the author at peter@bareau.com

We marvelled at his output and his versatility, and envied his remarkable range of contacts in high places

Paul was lucky enough to have a portfolio career as the News Chronicle permitted him to take part-time positions as associate editor of The Banker and assistant editor of The Economist, as well as to contribute to The Statist.

Due to age and his work in a ‘reserved’ profession, Paul continued for most of the second world war as a journalist (and fire-watcher). In early 1945, he was seconded to the Treasury to work with Lord Keynes in preparing for the end of the US ‘Lend Lease’ programme and to act as press officer to the British delegation in Washington at the ensuing AngloAmerican loan negotiations, as described in some detail in my book, Paul Bareau – a life.

In 1946, Paul returned to the News Chronicle and, on Hobson’s retirement, became City Editor. He was always busy and much in demand for broadcasting and lecturing (including at the Institute of Bankers’ summer schools), as well as writing.

Frank Cassell, who moved from financial journalism to become a senior Treasury official and UK executive director of the IMF, said: “He was always there, watching the [news] tapes and putting his head round the door to enquire ‘well, what’s doing?’ and, especially if it was after lunch, offering some apposite anecdote on the day’s news. He would then disappear into his office and dictate with great spontaneity his contributions to the many journals at home and abroad that sought his wisdom. We hacks marvelled at his output and his versatility, and envied his remarkable range of contacts in high places and the ease with which he gained access to them. One remembers most of all his unfailing good humour and approachability.”

Paul’s status as a ‘Continental’ was another great asset as a commentator – he loved and respected his adoptive country but was able to view it with a certain detachment.

'The Economic Scene'

In October 1958, Paul started writing (or rather dictating to his long-standing secretary, Miss Barnes) his first contribution to the Journal of the Institute of Bankers.

At that time, Harold Macmillan was prime minister, Derick Heathcoat-Amory chancellor of the exchequer, and Lord Cameron (‘Kim’) Cobbold governor of the Bank of England (BoE). The topics Paul touched on in his first article included relaxation of the credit squeeze, competition and credit control, a reduction in Bank rate, the ‘magnificent’ performance of sterling following measures applied the previous year, personal lending arrangements, banks investing in hire purchase companies, weakness of the US dollar and proposals to provide more resources to the IMF and the World Bank.

By the end of the 'The Economic Scene' in 1983, the UK had its first woman prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, had chewed through numerous chancellors and seen the departure of four Bank of England governors: Cobbold, Lord Cromer, Leslie O’Brien and Gordon Richardson.

The topics covered in Paul’s commentaries in 'The Economic Scene' during those two and a half decades included: national accounts – budgets, GNP growth, fiscal matters, imports and exports; bank accounts, deposits, profits and disclosure arrangements; monetary policy – interest rates including Bank rate, credit supply, credit squeezes, consumer credit, special deposits and other restrictive mechanisms; currency markets, gold and reserves – sterling and the US dollar, international liquidity, exchange controls, convertibility and the evervulnerable British balance of payments; inflation – price levels, wage and cost levels; capital investment and takeovers; unemployment; productivity; capital markets – new issues, gilt edged, stock markets, international debt and the emerging eurodollar market; developments in international monetary reform and meetings of the IMF and World Bank.

This massive and ever-changing buffet was made digestible by Paul’s commentary. There were numbers, but seldom tables and almost never graphs. Figures were consumed in his sources of information but he did not need them to explain what was going on and the likely outcomes.

'The Economic Scene' was an opportunity for bankers at all levels to reprise and reflect on what was going on in their environment. They could see what was having an effect on their work – and find out who or what was pulling the strings.

A massive and ever-changing buffet of economic events was made digestible by Paul’s commentary

For some, it was also an opportunity to complement studies for their banking exams. That was because Paul was an expert on banking systems, not only in the UK but in many major economies. He lectured on ‘comparative banking’ for many years at the London School of Economics and on ‘economics for dealers’ at City University.

Paul was a believer in markets and in discipline, wary of planning if it stifled or was seen as an alternative to competition, generally against devaluation and, later, the move to floating exchange rates. He was against protectionism and restrictive practices on whatever side of the board table they were exercised and was critical of over-expansion as an alternative to growth in productivity. He was strongly in favour of promoting the City of London and the trade in ‘invisibles’, a subject to which he devoted a lot of effort on overseas delegations in later life. Paul was in favour of greater European integration but aware that it was a question of one step at a time and that at some point there might be a trade-off between sovereignty and “more Europe”.

Starting a series of public lectures at the end of 1949 shortly after the dramatic sterling devaluation from $4.03 to $2.80, Paul said: “I am more than ever grateful that in accordance with the best journalistic tradition of not tackling a job until the hands of the clock compel one to do so I delayed the preparation of these lectures until the last reasonable moment.” Somewhat in that spirit, Paul’s only complaint to the Institute of Bankers was that its printing schedule occasionally meant his piece was dated when it appeared in print.

'The Economic Scene' series 1958-1983 in the Journal is unique in its longevity, in the particular period it covered during which banking and financial markets were gradually waking up from the aftermath of war and finding new freedoms and innovating, and in its consistent authorship and readability.

Researchers and historians who would like to see 'The Economic Scene' can find all the relevant issues of the Journal at the Institute’s Henry Grunfeld library. The librarians can be contacted at knowledgebank@libf.ac.uk.