Buying carbon credits is a way for companies to show they’re serious about fighting climate change. But keeping track of these credits is tricky. Now, advocates of the blockchain - the technology that underpins cryptocurrency - say that its digital ledger could be a possible solution to bring transparency to the market. On today’s episode, the FT’s Camilla Hodgson explores whether this technology could help fight climate change or whether some supporters are just in it for their own benefit. - -...
Sep 07, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Early in his tenure the new Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon presented a grand new vision for what the massive bank should become. How has it panned out since? And is there still time for Solomon to make the changes it needs? The FT’s US banking editor Joshua Franklin examines what Solomon has and hasn’t achieved in his four years at the helm. Clips from CBS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading: In era of quick-fire bosses, Wall Street embrace...
Aug 31, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast The FT’s south Asia correspondent Ben Parkin explains how Afghanistan’s economy has changed in the year since US forces left the country and the Taliban retook control of the government. Clips from CBS, BBC - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading: The Taliban’s black gold: militants seize on coal to reboot economy Life under the Taliban: ‘what matters is that we’re hungry ’ The Taliban’s new order: ‘We’ll introduce a system for the wo...
Aug 24, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Federal Reserve has spent more than a decade buying up government debt as part of a post-2008 program to support the economy, also known as quantitative easing. Now with inflation reaching record highs, those days are over, and a new era of quantitative tightening is emerging. On this week’s episode, the FT’s markets editor Katie Martin explains how markets expect to grapple with the change. Clips from ABC, CNBC, CBS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For f...
Aug 17, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Venture capital fundraising hit a record-high last year. There were more deals, and more money poured into startups last year than at any other time in history. Now, the FT’s Richard Waters says the fundraising bonanza is over. On this week’s episode, we explore what that means for the future of startups. Clips from Looney Tunes: ⓒ Warner Bros. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading: Venture capital’s silent crash: when the tech boom met reality...
Aug 10, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since the 2008 financial crisis, it’s become more and more difficult for Americans to chart a path toward financial security. Things like buying a house and paying off student loans have become more challenging for young people to do. And that’s given rise to a new generation of investors the FT’s Madison Darbyshire calls “generation moonshot.” Clips courtesy of NBC News, CNBC, ABC News, CBS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading: Generati...
Aug 03, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sri Lanka is facing dire fuel and food shortages amid ongoing economic and political crises. In this week’s episode, the FT’s Antoni Slodkowski shares what he’s seen after a week of reporting in Sri Lanka. And then, emerging markets correspondent Jonathan Wheatley explains how the crises in Sri Lanka may impact the rest of the world. Clips courtesy of Voice of America - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading: No food, no fuel and no jobs: the econ...
Jul 27, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Greedflation. Price gouging. Pandemic profiteering. What happens when turning a profit is considered a bad thing? In this week’s episode, the FT’s US business editor Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson explains how a new message around corporate profits is resonating with the American public and causing headaches for executives. Clip courtesy of Bloomberg - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading: US companies face rising battle to fend off vilification over ‘exce...
Jul 20, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast A few years ago a Peruvian farmer filed a lawsuit against a German utility company thousands of miles away. The reason? A glacier is melting near his hometown. If it melts enough, it could cause a flood that may catastrophically damage his city. He says that over years the company's pollution has contributed to climate change, and because of this, it should help pay for protections against the potential flood. In this week’s episode, we’ll tell the story of a David vs. Goliath battle. How ...
Jul 13, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Spacs, or special purpose acquisition companies, were all the rage at the start of the pandemic. These shell companies raise cash by listing on the stock market, and then seek a merger with a private company. This created a novel way for companies to list on the stock market without having to go through the traditional initial public offering process. Now, Spacs are floundering. The FT’s Ortenca Aliaj talks with guest host Jess Smith about how the Spac investment boom collided with rising intere...
Jul 06, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Late last year Unilever reached a $5 billion deal to sell part of its tea business, including brands like Lipton and PG Tips, to private equity giant CVC Capital. But the tea sector is a complicated one. With roots in colonialism, tea plantations around the world have faced many issues, including accusations of human rights abuses. In this week’s episode, we’re hearing from one worker whose life was forever changed by violence on her plantation, and exploring how this deal represents a new...
Jun 29, 2022•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Financial Times reporter Patricia Nilsson started digging into the porn industry, she made a shocking discovery: nobody knew who controlled the biggest porn company in the world. Now, Nilsson and her editor, Alex Barker, reveal who is behind it and much more. This eight-part investigative podcast, published weekly, reveals the secret history of the adult business and the billionaires and financial institutions who shape it. Subscribe and listen on: Apple Podcasts , Spotify ,&nbs...
Jun 28, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Federal Reserve announced its largest interest rate increase since 1994. And it's the equivalent of the US central bank taking a baseball bat to the economy, according to the FT’s US financial commentator Robert Armstrong. In this week’s episode, Armstrong is helping us to make sense of the Fed’s announcement. He’ll explain what the recent hike means for the economy and for investors, and tell us whether or not we should be freaking out. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -...
Jun 22, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Johnson & Johnson, one of the world’s largest healthcare companies, is facing thousands of lawsuits from people alleging they got cancer from using one of their oldest products: talc-based baby powder. To manage the growing liability, J&J recently deployed a controversial new bankruptcy manoeuvre known as the Texas Two-Step. In this week’s episode, we explore whether J&J’s use of this manoeuvre is setting a new precedent for corporations to evade accountability in America...
Jun 21, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week authorities raided the offices of Germany’s top asset manager DWS Group and its majority owner Deutsche Bank. The raid was spurred by allegations of greenwashing. That is, that DWS had made misleading claims about how sustainable or “green” some of its financial products were. DWS says it denies those allegations and has cooperated with regulators and authorities, but this move has prompted a larger reckoning throughout the financial industry. At the centre of much of...
Jun 08, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’re diving back into the world of stablecoins for part 2 of 2 in our miniseries on crypto. This time, it’s a story filled with troubled companies and a real life fire that sends a business up in smoke. With the help of FT reporters Kadhim Shubber and Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, we dig into the professional histories of two executives who sit atop two of crypto’s most important businesses: stablecoin issuer Tether and exchange Bitfinex. Clips courtesy CSPAN For further reading: ...
Jun 01, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Behind the Money is back! Our first episode is part 1 of 2 in a miniseries on crypto. First up, we're wondering: is a crypto vibe shift underway? Bitcoin’s price has been dropping for weeks and earlier this month, a popular stablecoin collapsed. FT reporter Ethan Wu explains how the effects of that rippled into other areas of the crypto universe. Michela and Ethan will talk about what stablecoins are and why they matter — even for people who aren’t crypto investors. For further readi...
May 25, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Behind the Money is back with all-new episodes! From hostile takeovers to C-suite intrigue, Behind the Money takes you inside the business and financial stories of the moment with reporting from Financial Times journalists around the world. The podcast returns May 25. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 17, 2022•1 min•Transcript available on Metacast A new six-part series of Tech Tonic brings you stories from the frontlines of the battle between the US and China for global technological supremacy. At stake is the future of technologies that will shape all our lives, from the way the internet is used to the way we govern our societies. Join the FT’s Global China Editor James Kynge as he charts China’s dramatic transformation into a global tech superpower, sparking rivalry with the US over who controls our technological future. Hosted on Acast...
Apr 13, 2022•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast The amount of money flowing into investment funds that claim to invest in sustainable businesses has surged in recent years. More companies than ever have embraced policies with environmental, social and corporate governance criteria as their central plank. But there's a debate over what ESG investing can achieve, particularly when it comes to cutting carbon emissions and addressing climate change. In the final episode of our five-part series on ESG investing, we hear from two leading FT voices ...
Nov 03, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is the podcast about doing work differently. Join host Isabel Berwick every Wednesday for expert analysis and watercooler chat about ahead-of-the-curve workplace trends, the big ideas shaping work today — and the old habits we need to leave behind. Subscribe on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/working-it/id1591925469 - On Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5vNDHxEOc1pI1acJS7He5e Or wherever you get your podcasts. The wellness industry is a trillion-dollar business, ...
Oct 30, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you want your investments to match your principles should a threat to divest be part of your long-term strategy? In the fourth episode of our special five-part series on sustainable or ESG investing, produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team, the story of the California State Teachers' Retirement System, or Calstrs, and why its decision to divest from the US private prisons industry prompted tears and passionate discussion on the board. Joe Rennison, deputy US markets edit...
Oct 20, 2021•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you want your investments to match your principles should a threat to divest be part of your long-term strategy? In the fourth episode of our special five-part series on sustainable or ESG investing, produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team, the story of the California State Teachers' Retirement System, or Calstrs, and why its decision to divest from the US private prisons industry prompted tears and passionate discussion on the board. Joe Rennison, deputy US markets edit...
Oct 20, 2021•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast The story of how a tiny, unknown hedge fund took on a giant of corporate America over climate change - and won. Charlie Penner of Engine No 1 talks about the very public proxy campaign he launched against Exxon Mobil, forcing the oil major to prepare for a future free of fossil fuels. In the third episode of our special five-part series on sustainable or ESG investing, produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team, Derek Brower, US energy editor, and Attracta Mooney, the FT’s inv...
Oct 06, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Milton Friedman, the renowned American economist and spiritual mentor of many entrepreneurs, argued that the social responsibility of business was to increase profits. This has been the gospel since the early 1970s, but companies and investors are beginning to rethink the purpose of business. Has the sun really set on the Miltonian era? In the second episode of our special five-part series produced in partnership with the Moral Money team, Leila Abboud, the FT’s Paris correspondent, and Gillian ...
Sep 23, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Tariq Fancy joined BlackRock as its first chief investment officer for sustainable investing in 2018, he was convinced that with companies around the world, including the world’s biggest asset manager, embracing environmental, social and governance (ESG) causes, the stage was set to reform capitalism. As a former Wall Street banker, he’d been hired by Blackrock after setting up his own digital learning non-profit group in Canada. But just two years after joining Blackrock, he left his job. ...
Sep 23, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Behind the Money presents a special 5-part series produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team that goes inside the colossal sums flowing into sustainable investing. Trillions have flooded into funds that have made environmental, social and governance issues, or ESG, central to their investment strategies. As the world begins slowly to recover from the multiple shocks of the pandemic, we take listeners to the center of a loaded debate: Will a shift to more sustainable investments actua...
Sep 22, 2021•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Introducing the FT Tech Tonic podcast. You can subscribe and listen to the rest of the series here. From picking the best stocks to listening in on earnings calls, AI-powered systems are changing finance. But how big are the rewards, really? And what are the risks? In this episode Robin Wigglesworth tells us how AI has been used in investing, what happens when programs must adapt to new risks and what the robots could learn from watching children play. Alice Fordham is senior producer. Jos...
Jul 19, 2021•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The City of London is home to some of the world’s biggest banks and busiest exchanges but the UK is just weeks away from leaving the EU single market and many questions about access to the bloc are still unresolved. Philip Stafford, editor of FT Trading Room, and Stephen Morris, the FT’s banking editor, take a look at the future of financial services after Brexit. Review clips: BBC News, CNBC, EU 27 Read more on the FT’s coverage of Brexit here: Brexit trade talks: the three big sticking p...
Dec 09, 2020•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Boston-based biotech eschewed a traditional approach to vaccine development, instead pitching its use of mRNA technology to investors. That pitch paid off this year as the company stands to be one of the first to bring a Covid-19 vaccine to market. Hannah Kuchler, the FT’s US pharma and biotech correspondent, reports on Moderna’s race to find an immunisation for the novel coronavirus. The FT is making key coronavirus coverage free to read for everyone. Go to ft.com/coronavirusfre...
Dec 02, 2020•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
