‘Swaps, mops, fobs.’ These sardonic words of my first boss at the US Treasury came to mind after hearing stories of a possible swap between the US and United Arab Emirates. The term ‘swap’ is a misnomer, but one endowed with a seeming mystical quality of being able to transform global currency relationships and the future monetary system. But a swap is nothing more than an asset exchange and tells one nothing about the purposes, terms and conditions of the loan – sorry, swap. China has a vast swap line network, which is sometimes wistfully portrayed to be challenging dollar dominance and promoting renminbi ... (full story)