The FS Club Podcast

In our first Esop Sofa webinar of the year, the Esop Centre’s panel of employee share scheme experts will look back over the employee share ownership hot topics of 2023 and their pick of articles featured in  “It’s Our Business”,  newspad  of the Esop Centre . Chairing the panel, Darren Smith of Global Shares, will be asking for their predictions for the year ahead, too.

Milan is the first centre to feature in our 2024 "Focus On" series, where we look at key business and financial centres from around the world. In this webinar: Alessandra Perrazzelli, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Italy, will consider the strengths that have resulted in Milan becoming a leading European Centre, with focus on the financial sector. Alessandra will also introduce the appro...

In this discussion Hugh Morris, who has had a very long career in the City of London, will invite panellists to identify the three threat areas which each of them sees as most critical to the future security and prosperity of the UK and allied Western countries. The conversation will then turn to the principal worries of participants in the webclave, and at the end Hugh will invite comments on eme...

Perennial financial crises and scandals call for a change in culture. However, what is the role of science and ideology in shaping the modern institutions and education in the accounting and finance professions?  In this seminar, award-winning scholar, broadcaster and lecturer, Professor Atul K. Shah will share his latest findings based on thirty years of research. The book published by Routledge...

People need knowledge in order to act. Sometimes people need to act collectively (e.g. in a business organization, or a democratic society), and then they need group knowledge. How can they get it – especially under adverse conditions? One way is for the individuals that constitute these groups to learn from their network of peers. Perhaps they can connect to epistemically prosper? This talk repor...

Nestled in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda has emerged as a prominent hub for international finance, attracting investors, corporations, and institutions from around the world. With its stable regulatory environment, tax advantages, and strategic location, Bermuda offers a unique blend of opportunities and advantages for financial services. In this webinar, we will delve into the key fact...

Fukuoka City is widely recognized as the most dynamic and fastest growing city in Japan. Why are individuals and companies moving to Fukuoka over Tokyo or Osaka? In recent years, economic size is no longer the sole determinant of business location decisions. Quality of life is playing an increasingly important role. In this context, I hope you will discover the hidden potential of Fukuoka as a glo...

In this webinar, we launch the eighth edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 8). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications. Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science,...

Background: Malta may be one of the world’s smallest countries, but it is also a vibrant financial hub where FinTech start-ups, fund managers, insurance firms, payment providers and family offices work in close proximity to one another. Despite our small size, we made the conscious decision to support a variety of financial activities and specialist segments, including a rich mix of international,...

This session will explore UAE's 2022 economic landscape as well as what's in store for the country's economic future. In a standout year, the UAE achieved historic FDI inflows, defying global trends with 10% growth. We delve into critical aspects, from infrastructure developments, green energy progress, and the remarkable performance of UAE stock exchanges, to record-breaking M&A d...

Three years after leaving the EU, there are no discernible signs of any benefits for UK finance. Instead, there are multiplying, and worrying, signs of a lack of substance to the initial, bold slogans. The MoU on financial service co-operation with the EU is revealed as a talking shop that leaves EU autonomy unfettered. The City’s global standing is slowly sinking, and leadership seems to be slipp...

In the latter half of 2022, faster payments (also known as authorised push payments) fraud losses in the United Kingdom reached an alarming £249 million, with a mere 5% recovery rate reported by financial institutions. These troubling statistics come as the industry prepares for the impending 2024 regulation, which will impose a 50/50 liability on both the initiator and beneficiary institutions fo...

The transformation of the economy to net zero is proceeding much too slowly. Globally, trillions of dollars of additional low-carbon investments are needed every year -- multiples of the current level of investment. Meanwhile governments are providing $7 trillion of annual subsidies to support fossil fuel usage. These enormous subsidies create a hurricane force headwind that prevents progress in d...

We increasingly rely on services implemented by digital systems. The software components of these systems are mostly sourced by service providers from outside sources. The digital systems built from these components are complex and tightly coupled. These characteristics mean that the combination of human error, cyber-attack and Natural Accident Theory will result in unpredictable service outages....

We have entered an era marked by rapid technological evolution and an ever-changing threat landscape. Security systems have evolved and developed from the earliest security system invented 170 years ago by Edwin Holmes, his alarm system was one of the earliest attempts to provide protection against unauthorized intruders and burglaries, and is a historically significant innovation in the field of...

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Europe's credit landscape with 'Unlocking Cross-Border Credit in Europe: Mifundo's Innovative Solution.' Notably, Mifundo has been recognized with two prestigious awards at the Europe Fintech Awards 2023, including 'LendTech of the Year' and 'Startup of the Year.' In this session, we'll delve into how Mifundo addresses the...

Private sector finance is not structured to support sustainable development at the scale and speed required to achieve the SDGs and the stated goals of the Paris Agreement. The financing gap to achieve the SDGs in developing countries alone is estimated to be circa 3 trillion USD p/a. Blended finance initiatives seek to align both commercial and non-commercial funding sources in a coordinated patt...

The twelfth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services. The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 130 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global...

In 2017, the release of Icarus, a documentary on doping in sport, piqued audience interest in the subject and garnered much critical acclaim. The documentary uncovered a Russian state-sponsored Olympic doping programme used during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Since then, there have been continuous doping scandals in sport, including the International Olympic Committee’s concern surrounding a...

Many companies struggle to implement frameworks for incorporating ESG factors into their operations. The introduction of biodiversity is one example for an ever-expanding ESG agenda. So, why is biodiversity important to companies’ business strategy? How can ESG / biodiversity material risks and opportunities be addressed both in their organisation and in their supply chains? How can biodiversity b...

This presentation will identify the many areas of concerns for investors and their agents meeting a settlement timescale of trade date plus one day. North America has set May 27th Canada and May 28th USA next year for their domestic markets to move from T+2 to T+1. International investing into Nth America accounts for around 40% of annual transaction volume. So, it will impact portfolios around th...

In recent years conspiracy theories have become a hot subject of debate. No longer confined to its own fringe subculture, ‘conspiracism’ – the belief that secret agendas and cabals drive geopolitical and global economic events – is having a real impact politically and socially, as seen with the rise of QAnon and the various allegations about Covid-19 and vaccinations. As a result, conspiracy theor...

Aviation is a clear and present indicator of the way the globe has established its response to meeting (or not) the Paris Climate Agreement. There is a limit to government and international policy action which can restrict an efficient pathway to decarbonisation. Aviation net zero future is critically dependent on a zero-emission energy revolution and commensurate institutional investment to meet...

There is a huge buzz currently around AI; both its benefits and visions of apocalyptic futures. It is important that banks adopting AI take their customers on the journey with them. GFT’s latest  Banking Disruption Index , a quarterly assessment of consumer attitudes towards digital transformation, focuses on the innovation led by AI and how it is affecting the experience of the modern banking cus...

The relatively newly-established Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has already hit the headlines. Set up to hold public authorities in England and Northern Ireland to account on environmental law, the OEP comments on Government’s interpretation, enforcement and proposed amendment of environmental laws, as well as scrutinising its plans for meeting legally-binding environmental goals. This...