With cost of living forefront on people's minds, what are banks doing to alleviate pressure on the consumer? Bernard Hickey sits down with Kiwibank chief executive Steve Jurkovich to discuss how the economy is travelling, the pressures consumers are dealing with, and the regulatory adjustments he hopes to see in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
New fintech startup Aera says first-home buyers would need to save for an infinite number of years to secure a house deposit. Founder Derek Handley joins Bernard Hickey to discuss Aera's plan to help first-home buyers to get onto the property ladder, with a new take on the bank of mum and dad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
After leaving the CEO position at Z Energy, Mike Bennetts became an executive coach and has just published his own book: Being Extraordinary by confronting your ordinary. Mike talks to Bernard Hickey about how leadership is different from management, and how leaders can learn from their mistakes. You can find Mike's book at: https://www.taumataadvisory.com/beingextraordinary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In April and June of 2023, online scammers stole $4.2 million from New Zealanders. Bernard Hickey speaks to Kiwibank senior external fraud investigator Sareta Fraser about how bank customers and banks are in an arms race against increasingly ingenious and awful scammers. She lays out the tricks and schemes used by the scammers and offers tips and techniques that customers can use to protect themselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What makes New Zealand one of the most geographically perfect places to harness the power of Tāwhirimātea? This week, Bernard Hickey talks with Giacomo Caleffi from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners about how the NZ Super Fund could bolster their plan to build a massive offshore wind farm off the coast of South Taranaki. They discuss why offshore wind is so necessary in the transition to 100% renewable energy, and how renewable energy differs from renewable power. Learn more about your ad choic...
Are we using our energy networks as efficiently as possible? Bernard Hickey interviews Octopus Energy’s UK-based head of systems change, Marcia Poletti, about innovative ways power companies can adapt their current system to better support the energy grid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
All around the globe, business owners are struggling to launch, manage, and sustain their companies' increasingly necessary online presence in an impactful way. Bernard Hickey speaks to the marketing director at Smarketing Lab, Assia Salikhova, for some free consulting on how to build his podcasting empire in the social space. She explains the simple ways you can let nosy folks know that you and your business are alive and thriving. . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...
It turns out many offices are empty now, particularly on Mondays and Fridays, and workers aren’t there to sit at their open-plan desks. They’re there to join Zoom or Teams calls in quiet spaces, or to meet each other in conference rooms. Bernard Hickey talks to XYSense co-founder and CEO Alex Birch about how building managers, planners and bean counters can understand the best way to run an office of the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Liam Wallis, is the founder of HIP V HYPE, a design agency in Melbourne that helped design, fund and build the first Nightingale project apartments in Melbourne’s Brunswick. These apartments are designed from the start to be carbon neutral, healthier, and cheaper places to heat. He talks to Bernard Hickey about the number of times the air changes every hour in a normal house (20), and how often the air changes in a home like the ones built in the Nightingale projects. Liam is in Auckland, Christ...
Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr tells Bernard Hickey why there are early signs of a rebound in confidence and hope for the summer to come, and into next year, despite the interest rate hikes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The prime minister seems to be moving forward with his plan to ignore the infrastructure deficit by ruling out wealth and capital gains taxes. He joins Bernard Hickey to defend his stance as a steady, status quo government and tries to win the vote of Bernard in the process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bernard Hickey discusses the need for much better bus and train connections within and between our smaller provincial cities with public transport advocate and award-winning singer-songwriter Anthonie Tonnon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why is Aotearoa's solar panel industry lagging so far behind the rest of the world? SolarZero CEO Matt Ward joins Bernard Hickey to talk about how using batteries to complement rooftop solar is changing the game and how he believes that the number of solar panels in Aotearoa are about to go through the roof. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bernard Hickey talks with CoGo founder Ben Gleisner about the potential to use bank data on spending to help businesses and consumers monitor and tweak their climate emissions. Gleisner talks about Aotearoa’s rocky and long pathway to open banking and the options for a type of ‘nudge’ economy towards decarbonisation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Are we building our houses as smart as we possibly can? GEOBIND co-founder Alice Hosted says that Aotearoa could help solve its housing cost and carbon problems by using hempcrete walls. They discuss the pros to using hemp in building construction, and the current logistical frameworks that restrict its use in New Zealand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bernard Hickey drills down into the future of geothermal electricity production in this week’s interview with Isabelle Chambefort from GNS Science. She’s excited about the potential for deep drilling to uncover ‘supercritical’ heat that supercharges geothermal power output, helping solve the dry year problem bedevilling or hydro dominated power system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kiri Nathan isn’t just a leading figure in the Aotearoa fashion industry, she’s a true inspiration – a remarkable artist and guiding mentor to young indigenous designers. Kiri stands apart from her peers in the world of fashion, with her commitment to incorporating her whakapapa in her creations by using Māori patterns, textiles and weaving techniques. In this kōrero we discover what motivates Kiri and the obstacles she’s conquered to achieve respect and success in this notoriously tough industr...
As the world globalises, open banking is becoming an increasingly attractive prospect to customers, so why aren't our banks onboard yet? Bernard Hickey talks with Josh Daniell at FinTech firm Akahu about what’s being done in Aotearoa to accelerate the move to open banking, something already well advanced in Europe, the UK, and Australia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Meet Robbie van Dam, a visionary entrepreneur and finalist for the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Spark Innovator Award for 2023. Through his company GoodNature, Robbie’s passion and commitment has helped revolutionise the pest control industry thanks to a groundbreaking trap that humanely kills pests with remarkable efficiency. With over 22 million pests killed worldwide and huge monetary savings in conservation efforts, Robbie’s inspiring story of challenging the status quo, making meaning...
The Māori economy is one of the fastest growing in the country, yet many tangata whenua still face major barriers when borrowing from banks to kickstart businesses. Kiwibank's head of Māori advisory Teaho Pihama sits down with Bernard Hickey to discuss the issues facing Māori when it comes to accessing capital and what practical solutions his team at Kiwibank are doing to give Māori greater access to lending. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dr Ellen Nelson is a military veteran, esteemed academic, and Kiwibank local hero of the year for 2023. For this special kōrero we delve into Ellen’s passion for improving working conditions for parents and her campaigns advocating for flexible and inclusive workplaces. We find out what drives Ellen, covering her bold approach to leadership, mammoth volunteer effort leading the evacuation of Afghan refugees to Aotearoa and academic achievements focusing on women’s empowerment. Ellen’s relatabili...
University of Auckland academic Troy Baisden and Catherine Leining from Motu Research talk to Benard Hickey about their new guide that gives a unique insight into how we can adapt fairly to a myriad of problems facing Aotearoa in the coming decades. They discuss what this research means, what the next steps are and what keeps them optimistic that we can achieve a just transition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Esteemed Matariki expert Dr Rangi Mātāmua brings a wealth of wisdom and expertise that extends beyond the stars, encompassing topics such as living by the Maramataka and food sovereignty. With Matariki, the Māori new year, on the horizon, there's no better time to delve into the significance of this celestial celebration with someone who played a pivotal role in its recognition on the public holiday calendar. As a renowned expert in indigenous knowledge and the Professor of Mātauranga Māori at M...
In 2021, the Reserve Bank told us that house prices were unsustainably high and would likely fall by around 15%. That has proven to be the case and the market is now considered sustainable. Yet, house price-to-income ratios are still two to three times higher than they were 20 years ago, and most people with regular incomes still struggle to buy homes. In this episode, Bernard Hickey talks to Reserve Bank researcher Dr Andrew Coleman about his research measuring house price sustainability and wh...
As founder of Girls That Invest, Simran Kaur wears multiple hats: financial columnist, best-selling author, TEDx speaker, and financial literacy advocate. Her highly acclaimed podcast has garnered over four million downloads and topped the business podcast charts worldwide. At just 26 years old, Simran’s remarkable achievements, including speaking at the UK House of Parliament, defy her age. In this conversation Jane Yee gets to know the woman behind the success story, revealing Simran’s humilit...
A groundbreaking transformation is underway in the United States, as they embark on an industrial revolution that aims to replace a staggering one billion fossil-fueled machines with clean, electric alternatives fueled by the forces of nature—wind, sun, and water. This remarkable shift, ignited by a masterful manoeuvre within the world's largest and most complex political economy, has set the stage for an inspiring journey. Bernard Hickey sits down with climate tech entrepreneur and activist Sau...
While you wait for the next episode of When the Facts Change, we thought you might enjoy This is Kiwi – a new series about inspiring New Zealanders brought to you by our friends at Kiwibank. Beyond his triumphs in professional sport, Dave Letele has always maintained an unwavering commitment to his community. Through the establishment of the BBM Motivation foundation, Dave has emerged as a beacon of hope, establishing free fitness classes, nutritional guidance, and smarter food banks to help tho...
For decades, the wealthiest New Zealanders have been reaping enormous private gains from public infrastructure investments. While those who benefit consider the game fair, the less fortunate bear the overwhelming burden of infrastructure costs. Bernard Hickey talks with Geoff Cooper, the head of strategy at the Infrastructure Commission, as they delve into groundbreaking policy ideas aimed at transforming the existing landscape. Together, they explore strategies to achieve better distribution of...
Both farmers and environmentalists fear Aotearoa becoming a sea-to-sea swathe of permanent Pinus radiata plantations that collect billions of dollars of carbon sequestration credits for investors, but few create long-term jobs and become deserts for native flora and fauna to thrive. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are plenty of redwood, eucalypt, and other fast-growing carbon sinks that foster native regrowth and birds, and which would keep billions of emissions credits in Aotearoa, ra...
AI is gearing to be as much of a cultural revolution as the birth of the iPhone, but it’s still yet to be seen how its implementation in the workplace will impact everything from efficiency to recruitment. In this week’s episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks to CK Lee, founder of receipt scanning app Taggun, about how he uses AI in his business and as a tool to improve his thinking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
