The Story of Money

Latest Episodes:

A crypto vibe shift? May 25, 2022

Show notes

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 reading:

Crypto scares everyone

The week that shook crypto

Investors pull $7bn from Tether as stablecoin jitters intensify

Follow Ethan Wu on Twitter @EthanYWu

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back! May 17, 2022

Show notes

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.

Introducing Tech Tonic: The US/China Tech Race Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

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. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 - Inside ESG: A sceptic vs a believer, our experts face off Nov 03, 2021

Show notes

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 on opposite sides of the argument. Cheering the rise of ESG is Gillian Tett, the FT’s US editor-at-large and co-founder of Moral Money, the FT team that covers sustainable business and finance; and casting a sceptical eye is the FT’s US financial commentator Robert Armstrong, who also writes Unhedged, the FT newsletter on Wall Street.

The ESG investing industry is dangerous

Team ESG fights back

A carbon price should be top of the wish list at the climate talks

The need to elevate developing countries at COP26

Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here.

Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesg

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introducing Working It: Can wellness apps fix us and beat staff burnout? Oct 30, 2021

Show notes

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, and the pandemic has turbo-charged it. One of the biggest trends has been the rise in employers buying their staff access to meditation and fitness apps. But does this ‘quick fix’ approach work? And are there better ways to boost wellbeing ?

Isabel talks to Lorna Borenstein, chief executive of Grokker, a corporate wellness app about the reasons why she set up the platform and how clients and her own staff use it. It’s all part of a culture of taking care of employees - a topic Lorna has explored more deeply in her book It’s Personal, offering advice to other managers on how to help staff feel better [tl;dr: talk less, listen more].We also speak to FT colleague Emma Jacobs, about the corporate care culture. She is a little more skeptical.

We would love to hear from you - email us at workingit@ft.com. You can also follow @isabelberwick on Twitter and Instagram or reach out via email: isabel.berwick@ft.com. Thanks.

Mentioned in the podcast and other interesting reading:

Emma Jacobs’ prophetic pre-pandemic guide to workplace wellness by app: https://www.ft.com/content/d1d58aae-437c-11ea-abea-0c7a29cd66fe
FT series, Burnout: https://www.ft.com/burnout
Deloitte report [2020] on employee mental health showing £5 benefit for every £1 spent: https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/consulting/articles/mental-health-and-employers-refreshing-the-case-for-investment.html
Video, Emma Jacobs on how to detox from your smartphone: https://www-ft-com.newman.richmond.edu/video/b4115321-b915-3a42-9814-ad0be4c0e7f5?playlist-name=section-0b83bc44-4a55-4958-882e-73ba6b2b0aa6&playlist-offset=206

Presented by Isabel Berwick. Editorial direction from Renée Kaplan. Assistant producer is Persis Love. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Produced by Novel.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 - Inside ESG: Sustainable finance and the threat to divest Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

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 editor, assesses the long-term impact that divestment can have on companies, while Moral Money’s Patrick Temple-West, Attracta Mooney, the FT’s investment correspondent, and Lindsay Frost, a senior reporter at Agenda, an FT publication about the corporate board space, explain why divestment presents a conundrum for investors and whether passive investment funds are really compatible with ESG investing.

JPMorgan funds invested in CoreCivic debt after vow to stop financing private prisons

Bond funds wrestle with human rights dilemma

Divestment Concerns Creep In for More Industries

Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here.

Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesg

Review clips: Calstrs, NBC, Global News, PBS, AP, CBC News, The Guardian, CSPAN

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 - Inside ESG: Sustainable finance and the threat to divest Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

If you want your investments to match your principles should a threat to divest be part of your long-term strategy?

JPMorgan funds invested in CoreCivic debt after vow to stop financing private prisons

Bond funds wrestle with human rights dilemma

Divestment Concerns Creep In for More Industries

Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here.

Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesg

Review clips: Calstrs, NBC, Global News, PBS, AP, CBC News, The Guardian, CSPAN

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

3 - Inside ESG: The tiny fund that took on a US giant and won Oct 06, 2021

Show notes

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 investment correspondent, reflect on whether the battle between Engine No 1 and Exxon marks the beginning of a new kind of activist investor.

Engine No 1, the giant-killing hedge fund, has big plans

DWS probes spark fears of greenwashing claims across investment industry

Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here.

Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visitwww.ft.com/insideesg

Review clips: The Sun, Channel 4 News, Euronews, PBS Newshour, GMA, CNN, CNBC, ExxonMobil

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2 - Inside ESG: Can businesses really marry profit and purpose? Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

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 Tett, the FT’s US editor-at-large, tell the story of Emmanuel Faber, the former CEO of Danone who embraced environmental, social and governance (ESG) causes - and then was ousted eight years later. Turns out there was more to the story than first meets the eye.

The fall from favour of Danone’s purpose-driven chief

Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here.

Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesg

Review clips: CNBC, Danone, British Pathé, IMAGINE, France 24

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1 - Inside ESG: Is the $1.7tn wave of sustainable investing hope or hype? Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

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. So what went wrong?

In the first episode of our special five-part series produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team, Gillian Tett, the FT’s US editor-at-large, and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the FT’s US business editor, explore the idea that the trillions of dollars that have flowed into ESG investments represent a once-in-a generation shift in the business consensus. Can it be true that ESG investing can address some of the world’s most-pressing problems, including climate change and inequality?

Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here.

Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesg

Review clips: AP, KPIX CBS, CNBC, CNN, The Telegraph, PayPal

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected