The OMFIF Podcast

Gender balance: is this the best we can do?

OMFIF's 8th annual Gender Balance Index found that fewer than 1% of leading global financial institutions have achieved gender balance. The report looked at 540 institutions, including central banks, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and commercial banks. While some progress has been made, the numbers do not point to success. Patricia Haas-Cleveland, OMFIF’s president, US operations, and Forbes contributor Carmen Niethammer discuss the report's findings and their implications.

The OMFIF/KPMG series: Leveraging digital solutions for banking

Bhavin Patel, head of fintech research at OMFIF, is joined by Judd Caplain, global head of banking and capital markets at KPMG, and Olivier Dang, global chief operating officer for the wholesale digital office at Nomura.

They discuss digitalisation trends and how new initiatives can be successful, as solutions and architectures require more focus and finesse than simply bolting on new pieces of technology. They further review how banks must negotiate a multitude of shifting factors — from changing customer behaviours to economic headwinds, intensifying competition, regulatory pressures and technological disruption.

ECB future direction and central bank independence

Otmar Issing, former chief economist at the European Central Bank and Lord Mervyn King, former Governor at the Bank of England discuss the current monetary policy landscape. Discussing the ECB’s role in Covid-19 crisis response and the long term path back to normalising monetary policy. King and Issing consider the changing role for central bank’s in tackling the climate agenda, questioning if this is the appropriate agenda for central bankers to take on.

Italy’s G20 priorities

Alessandro Rivera, director general of Italy’s treasury and this year's chair of the G20 finance deputies, joins Mark Sobel, OMFIF US chairman, for this OMFIF podcast. Rivera discusses the key priorities for Italy’s G20 presidency, presenting his country's agenda for financial regulation, international financial architecture and international tax issues. He also offers his perspective on the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors gathering. Other topics covered include digitalisation, the climate agenda, providing vaccines to emerging markets and low-income countries and building up resilience ahead of future crises.

Blockchain, crypto & digital currencies – a gamechanger for traditional finance

Patricia Haas Cleveland, OMFIF’s president of US operations, is joined by Stephen Stonberg, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Bittrex Global, to delve into the many intricacies of blockchain, crypto and digital currencies. They discuss the impact of Covid-19, the tokenisation of stocks and the benefits of this, how the development of crypto and the future of money will affect traditional finance and, among others, the possibility of central bank digital currencies coexisting alongside cryptocurrencies.

After the strategy review: the road ahead for the ECB

Francesco Papadia, senior fellow at Bruegel and previously of the European Central Bank and Banca d´Italia, Bill Papadakis, macro strategist at Banque Lombard Odier, and John Nugée, who has an expansive career in the world of reserve management including spells at the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank of England, join OMFIF’s Ellie Groves. Drawing from two of his recent books, Central Banking in Turbulent Times and The European Central Bank: The New Challenges After the Great Recession, Papadia discusses the issues central banks now face and the ECB’s strategy review. The discussants look at the ECB’s response to the Covid-19 crisis and the future challenges the euro area faces as it struggles to reach its inflation target.

Overcoming the roadblocks to CBDC

Wolfram Seidemann, chief executive officer of G+D Currency Technology, joins John Orchard, CEO of OMFIF, to discuss how to overcome the major roadblocks, concerns and challenges of introducing a central bank digital currency and how policy-makers could address privacy concerns. They touch upon how a lack of financial literacy may impact the adoption of CBDC.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, CBDC has gained traction among public and private sector institutions. Central banks are actively looking at adoption of digital currency. Other points covered include universal usage, financial inclusion, resilience and data privacy. Finally, they discuss a frequently asked question: should CBDC be interest bearing?

The OMFIF/KPMG series: Evolution of Asia’s cities

Tamara Singh, head of Asia Pacific, speaks with Julian Vella, co-head of infrastructure at KPMG in Hong Kong, and Zheng Yu, professor at the school of international relations and public affairs at Fudan University, about the evolution of Asia’s special economic zones. They cover emerging trends in the development of fit-for-purpose cities, delving into the differences between special economic zones, charter cities and smart cities.

Global Britain or Britain alone? The FT’s Philip Stephens in conversation with OMFIF

Since the Suez crisis and imperial retreat, the UK has seesawed between affiliation to the US and to Europe, for a while managing both. What drove its decisions and were there better choices? Does Brexit change the geopolitical logic? How will the UK square its economic and strategic imperatives? Talking to OMFIF’s John Orchard, Philip Stephens, chief political commentator of the Financial Times, discusses these themes following the publication of his book Britain Alone: The Path From Suez to Brexit.

Gender Balance Index 2021

OMFIF’s Danae Kyriakopoulou, chief economist and director of research, and Clive Horwood, managing editor and deputy chief executive officer, discuss the Sustainable Policy Institute’s Gender Balance Index, which will be launched on 8 March. In this podcast, they talk about the expansion of the report to include commercial banks, the importance of gender diversity and what to expect at the launch event.

To register for the event, please click here: https://www.omfif.org/events/gender-balance-index-2021-launch/