The Next Five

The term polycrisis has been gaining traction in recent times as the world faces one disaster after another that are all interlinked. The far-reaching implications of a world at risk means boardrooms must remain agile to navigate their businesses past the rocks and into calmer seas. In a break away from our normal format, we've created our own boardroom. Sat around our virtual table today are three experts ready to discuss what risks are out there, how boards are dealing with them and what the boardroom dynamic needs to be to navigate a fast evolving and uncertain future. They are Sean McGovern, UK & Lloyd’s CEO at AXA XL, Pam Joshi, Global Head of Insurance and Risk Management at Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Sarah Isted, UK Risk Leader at PwC UK.Sources: FT Resources, IRM, GARP, ICAEWThis content is paid for by AXA XL and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's digital world, artificial intelligence, data storage and cybersecurity are a critical triumvirate, intersecting to form a dynamic ecosystem that underpins modern technological infrastructure. They are strategic pillars that drive innovation, operational efficiency and risk management. Thus their interaction and integration is key to building resilient and secure digital systems capable of supporting the demands of our digitally dependent future. In this episode Charlie Giancarlo, CEO, Pure Storage discusses how important it is for an organisation where your data is, and how to correctly, safely and securely store it ready for our AI future. Nicole Carignan, SVP of Security and AI Strategy at Darktrace and Anthony Ferrante, Global Head of Cybersecurity at FTI Consulting, further extol why data is the backbone of AI, the importance of securing your data, as well as the vulnerabilites organisations face in a modern digitial world.Sources: FT Resources, WEF, PWC, Allianz, National Cyber Security Centre, McKinsey, UK GovThis content is paid for by Pure Storage and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Biotechnology is the use of biology in the production of new products, services, and organisms with the aim of improving human health and society. In 2024, the global biotech market was worth $1.68 trillion. By application, the health segment was responsible for just over half of that figure. Not surprising when you think that healthcare focused biotech companies are battling to solve some of our biggest health concerns; turning an ageing society into a longevity society by supporting longer and healthier lives. In this episode of The Next Five, Paul Little, CEO of Vesper Bio discusses frontotemporal dementia and the impact of it on human health and society, the biotech solutions being sort to combat the disease as well as what he describes as a Malthusian crisis around biotech funding. Dr Ann Beliën, Founder and CEO of Rejuvenate Biomed addresses the problems of Sarcopenia as well as the biotech solutions for it and how Biotech companies use creative ways to secure funding. Gianmario Verona, President of Human Technopole, highlights the importance of industry collaboration and how innovation centres can help propel the biotech sector forward. Sources: FT Resources, WHO, JP Morgan, Alzheimersresearchuk, IQVIA This content is paid for by Yes Milano and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite an interconnected and increasingly digitalised world, a historical black cloud has been hanging over an area of finance relied upon by institutions, retail and a billion people associated with migrant work: Cross-border payments.Domestic money transfer has seen a dramatic overhaul due to the digital revolution of recent years. But sending money internationally is a whole different ball game. Each country operates their own payment systems at varying levels of technological maturity and regulation. Due to this, historically, sending money has been both time consuming and costly, whether that is B2B, B2C or C2C.There has been improvements over the last few years, yet the industry still has some work to do. In this episode of The Next Five, Pratik Khowala, Global Head of Transfer Solutions at Mastercard discusses how scale and collaboration can solve some of the key challenges. Emanuela Saccarola, Head of Cross-Border Payments at Citi delves into the B2B landscape, echoes the need for industry collaboration and discusses the increasingly relevant role of digital assets. Josh Gordon-Blake, EVP and GM, MGO at MoneyGram highlights the importance of remittances to the global economy and what an overhaul of the payments system can do for millions of people. Sources: FT resources, Deloitte, IFAD, World Bank, Mastercard, Deutsche Bank, ECB, FSB, The Payments Association.This content is paid for by Mastercard and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s competitive global landscape the responsibilities of CFOs are diversifying more than ever. The fast paced digital revolution, geopolitical uncertainty, economic volatility and the environmental impact of climate change means the modern CFO must adapt to future proof the financial health of their organisations. The need to remain agile and requires fleet of foot finance leaders. In the modern world, technology is helping CFOs to gain visibility over their business functions and react to an ever evolving global landscape. In this Episode of The Next Five, Anna Manz, CFO of Nestlé explains the need to keep pace with consumer change, how technology can help with forecasting, but that a team's ability to adpat to change is vital. Chris Thorn, UK CFO at Suez discusses the unique pressures and opportunities of private and public partnerships, how to react and work with regulation and legislation changes and the role tech also plays for CFOs. Salvatore Lombardo, CPTO at Coupa explains how technologies such as AI can be a welcome tool in the CFOs arsenal, if used correctly. Sources: FT resources, PWC.This content is paid for by Coupa and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The world is grappling with the need to hit the global Net Zero by 2050 target which means the net amount of greenhouse gases emitted into, and removed from, the atmosphere is zero by that date. All the while providing safe, secure and affordable energy for citizens. A tug of war between outcomes is afoot, where difficult decisions and trade-offs will need to be made by governments, energy majors and consumers. Energy security is key for economic resilience. Progress made in the last few decades in the UK and Euro area was buffeted by the Russia Ukraine war. Geopolitical events, such as mounting international tensions in the Middle East, could create further energy shocks. However, according to the European Security Mechanism, to enhance resilience to energy supply shocks, the EU needs to increase the use of domestically produced renewable energy. In this episode of The Next Five Torgrim Reitan, CFO and EVP at Equinor discussses the need for a balance between transitioning to renewables and offering stable supply of reliable energy sources such as natural gas. Rebecca Williams, Deputy CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) offers insight into the future for wind projects and how renewable energy can provide much needed energy security. Irina Kustova, Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy studies (CEPS), highlights the policy landscape surrounding the energy ecosystem and the challenges and opportunities ahead. Sources: FT resources, National Grid, European Commission, WEF, windeurope.org, European Security Mechanism, Mckinsey, S&P Global Commodities Insights, IEA.This content is paid for by Equinor and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We live in a world of tremendous uncertainty where businesses are increasingly challenged to adapt to a rapidly evolving risk landscape. Economic instability, rising geopolitical tensions, technological disruption, cyber threats and the energy transition, are just some of the concerns for boards and businesses globally. Companies need to prepare for risk and maintain resilience. In this episode of The Next Five, Vince Tizzio, President and CEO of AXIS highlights the important role that the insurance industry plays in managing risk, and the need for specialisation and collaboration within industries. John Doyle, CEO of Marsh McLennan, discusses the increasing climate related risk landscape and how technology is being used to help map global risk, as well as the risk reward balance of technologies such as AI. Mark Erickson, Global Head of the Financial Institutions Group at BlackRock offers insight into Blackrock's recent report on the insurance industry's views on climate and AI risk and opportunity. Sources: FT Resources, WEF, Mckinsey, EIOPA, KPMG, Swiss ReThis content is paid for by AXIS and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If money makes the world go round, then data tells you how fast it’s spinning and when it might stop. 90% of all data was generated in the last 2 years and every 2 years the volume of data doubles. With 11 billion devices connected to the internet today, the annual global data generation in 2025 is expected to be 181 zettabytes, that’s 181 trillion gigabytes. To put it in context, we use about 3 gigabytes to stream netflix in high definition for an hour. In other words, the modern world can’t live without data. To continue to understand the world, especially as we move ever more into the digital age of AI, we must better understand the data we are creating. And this means in every part of life, including in business. Alexander Igelsböck, Co-Founder and CEO of Adverity joins us to show how data can unlock business opportunities and create a competitive advantage. Florian Jacquier, Global Head of Data Consumer Engagement at Nestlé, discusses the importance for large global companies to see, understand and action your data correctly. Dr Clare Walsh, Director of Education at the Institute of Analytics, highlights how data is used by organisations and governments and the importance of data policy and governance. Sources: FT Resources, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Tyger Vilan’s Spurious Correlations, Whatsthebigdata.comThis content is paid for by Adverity and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The premium alcohol industry is about more than just indulgence. It’s a category that is garnering greater attention from consumers, investors and collectors. Increased disposable incomes, celebrity culture and social media has created new avenues for brand recognition and sales. Partnerships with other luxury brands also bring cross pollination appeal and is an area top spirit brands are looking to take more advantage of. Investing in premium alcohol is also an area of growth. Brand, age and rarity set the standard for big prices. The whisky category has seen records consistently broken in the last few years as wealthy individuals battle for the best bottles. In November 2023, a single bottle of The Macallan 1926 Valerio Adami, one of only 40 bottles originally released, sold for a new record price of £2.18 million at Sotheby's in London.But there are some headwinds in both the primary and secondary markets that brands and consumers need to weather.In this episode of The Next Five we speak with Duncan McFadzean, Managing Director at Noble & Co, who discusses the growth and challenges of the primary market and how brands can buck the economic downturn. Jaume Ferras, Creative Director at The Macallan, shows how luxury brands are working together to increase share of pocket. Jonny Fowle, Global Head of Whisky at Sotheby’s, conveys the highs and lows of investing in the secondary market and calls for the joys of consumption as well as investing in fine bottles. Sources: FT Resources, Forbes, Matter of Form, Mordor Intelligence, Whisky Advocate, Spirit FilledThis content is paid for by advertisers and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times’ Commercial Department Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Individual creativity and idea construction sets us apart within our own societies, it is a deeply desirable trait, and can give you power and wealth. ‘Gosh, what a great idea!’, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ are often thought and heard. Cue Artificial intelligence, AI can enhance and enable our creativity- giving thousands of creative solutions to our input ideas. Less a brainstorm and more a cosmic tsunami of creation, all in a matter of seconds. It does this without its own personal agenda and selfish desire to have the idea that brings with it the potential for expression, power and wealth. But is it creative? Or, like in many industry applications, is AI a tool that makes us more creative. In this episode of The Next Five, we hear from Doug Eck, Senior Research Director at the Google DeepMind working on generative media, who discusses how we amplify our own human ideas with technology and that AI brings an inflection point where new art forms could develop with its help. Youtube content creator Dani Verdari, discusses the use of AI in her own content creation, the benefits of having this technology at her fingertips and how it can help others become artists and creators. She also discusses some of the issues around copyright of works that arise. Neil Maiden, Professor of Digital Creativity at the Bayes Business School, City University of London and Director of the Center for Creativity Enabled by AI, looks at how we embed creative thinking in professional practices and how AI can be used to solve problems more effectively.Sources: FT Resources, Harvard Business Review, Goldman Sachs, American Museum of Natural History, Science Daily, Lesley University, Forbes, Accenture. This content is paid for by Google and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times’ Commercial Department Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.