Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast. I'm Paul Sweeney alongside
Speaker 1: my co host Matt Miller. Every business day we bring
Speaker 1: you interviews from CEOs, market pros, and Bloomberg experts, along
Speaker 1: with essential market moving news. Find the Bloomberg Markets Podcast
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Speaker 1: at Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. Let's get it right
Speaker 1: now to Lisa Ericson. She's a senior VP and head
Speaker 1: of Traditional Investment at US Bank Wealth Management. Lisa, Um,
Speaker 1: We've been taught. I mean, there's so much pessimism right
Speaker 1: in markets. We were talking about JP Morgan UM coming
Speaker 1: out and saying clients are under extreme stress. We've seen
Speaker 1: insane volatility, and obviously for the everyday person, you've got inflation.
Speaker 1: UM as Greg just noted, uh five dollars and I
Speaker 1: think forty four cents around San Francisco to fill up UM.
Speaker 1: At the same time, Matt Inclare, our editor in chief emeritus,
Speaker 1: wrote a piece UM pointing out that CEOs are extremely optimistic.
Speaker 1: They want to spend a lot of money, they want
Speaker 1: to hire a ton more people. UM, how do you
Speaker 1: see the markets right now? Well, to your point, Matt,
Speaker 1: we really do have more of a balanced outlook right
Speaker 1: now on the market, and the reason it is really
Speaker 1: very similar to the UH factors that you outlined. While
Speaker 1: certainly there's a lot of concerning events, including the human
Speaker 1: tragedy that we have with the Ukraine and Russia of
Speaker 1: invasion UH, if you look under the hood at the
Speaker 1: basic fundamentals in the US economy, it actually is robust
Speaker 1: and so on a macro basis, if we look at
Speaker 1: our global dashboard of indicators, we see that especially in
Speaker 1: the U S we're on solid growth ground, coming off
Speaker 1: very high levels. And in addition, generally activity around the world,
Speaker 1: law under some threat from what's going on in the
Speaker 1: vacation from the invasion, is still UH managing to stay
Speaker 1: in growth territory. And to your point, corporate indicators also
Speaker 1: are robust. We just came out of a very nice
Speaker 1: fourth quarter earnings for seasons and revisions continue to go
Speaker 1: up for the full year twenty twenty two. So when
Speaker 1: we balance some of the risks going on with changes
Speaker 1: in Fed monetary policy as well as the geopolitical situation,
Speaker 1: that counterbalance is what we see on the fundamental front,
Speaker 1: and therefore really more of a balanced outlook, Lisa, you know,
Speaker 1: what do we think about the FED meeting next week
Speaker 1: and what it might do in terms of changing course
Speaker 1: in the way CEOs and investors see things. Yet to
Speaker 1: your point, really Fed monetary policies one of the key
Speaker 1: items that we're keeping an eye on, and really again
Speaker 1: on the risk ledger one of the key items simply
Speaker 1: because we're moving from a several year period of more
Speaker 1: accommodative policy to one to where the FED wants to normalize. Now.
Speaker 1: Chair and Pal did just recently state that you know,
Speaker 1: he's going to be recommended recommending a twenty five basis
Speaker 1: point increase in interest rates at that March meeting, and
Speaker 1: so that took a little bit of fear out of
Speaker 1: the markets because there have been some concern for up
Speaker 1: to a fifty basis point increase. But really how that
Speaker 1: continues to navigate through the years going to be critical,
Speaker 1: only because the Fed's really in a tight spot with
Speaker 1: trying to maintain growth and yet grapple with some of
Speaker 1: the elevated inflation that we've had. What's the key here, Lisa,
Speaker 1: When you come into the office every day and open
Speaker 1: up your Bloomberg, what's on your dashboard. What are you
Speaker 1: looking at? Is it all about commodities prices the last
Speaker 1: couple of days. Well, to your point, it really is
Speaker 1: both about what's going on with monetary policy as well
Speaker 1: as with commodities. And we certainly had a period where
Speaker 1: we started started to see some uh souciety in both
Speaker 1: the general rate of inflation as well as what was
Speaker 1: happening with commodities. That again, with recent geopolitical events, uh
Speaker 1: we're seeing those uh strong spice up, especially in the
Speaker 1: price of energy, but also in other areas like grains
Speaker 1: and metals, and so that obviously is really a key
Speaker 1: risk to the outlook. All right, Lisa, thanks so much
Speaker 1: for joining us. Great having you on. I feel like
Speaker 1: I feel like checking in with uh Angie Gildea right now.
Speaker 1: She is a national security, national sector leader, I should say, Energy,
Speaker 1: natural Resources and Chemicals joining us from KPMG. And it's
Speaker 1: a great time to have you on, Angie, because, um,
Speaker 1: the moves that we're seeing, just the uncertainty here, I mean,
Speaker 1: I honestly don't know if anyone wants to answer questions
Speaker 1: in this kind of market, how difficult is it. It's
Speaker 1: it's a lot of uncertainty out there, and really it's
Speaker 1: anyone's guests in terms of what what will happen next.
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting because it's also Sarah Week right now,
Speaker 1: where there is a lot of energy executives meeting down
Speaker 1: UM in Texas. Right you have Vicky Hallam saying that
Speaker 1: there are real risks out there. I mean, what what
Speaker 1: are oil executives worried about right now? You know, I
Speaker 1: have in the twenty five years in my career in energy,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I've seen quite anything like this.
Speaker 1: So there's a significant number of risk. I think the
Speaker 1: first UH risk that we all have to grapple with
Speaker 1: is the the risk around energy security. That number that's
Speaker 1: number one for all of us making sure we have
Speaker 1: got UH the energy sources when we need it. Now,
Speaker 1: there's enough. The good news, the silver lining, if there
Speaker 1: is a silver lining of all of this, is there
Speaker 1: is enough oil and gas out there to UH to
Speaker 1: meet the world's demand. We just have to get it
Speaker 1: to the right to the right places and through the
Speaker 1: right the right markets. And we've been undersupplied for UH
Speaker 1: for a while now due to the lack of investment
Speaker 1: in the sector. And that's on top of some of
Speaker 1: the challenges we're seeing right now. Is there anything that
Speaker 1: this administration can do to get that investment flowing again?
Speaker 1: Have they done it already? You know? Are the wildcatters
Speaker 1: out there looking for more oil? Um? Are they fracking
Speaker 1: to get US gas rather than shipping it in via
Speaker 1: UH you know, freighter from lergy from Russia. What do
Speaker 1: you see happening in that regard? Well, I think the
Speaker 1: good news is we have seen recounts increase, we have
Speaker 1: seen drilling increase in the US. But these things take time.
Speaker 1: It's not something that you can necessarily turn on this
Speaker 1: bigot like you do with your with your water in
Speaker 1: the in the UH supplies immediately there and so it's
Speaker 1: going to take a while, um to get you know,
Speaker 1: to get supplied back into the market. And really the
Speaker 1: big question out there is will OPEQ stuff up and
Speaker 1: release additional capacity to the market. I wonder if you
Speaker 1: could speak a little bit about the relationship between US
Speaker 1: oil companies and OPEC here, because you have I want
Speaker 1: to go back to those Viki Hallab, the Occidental CEO,
Speaker 1: comments what she says, it's a dire situation that world
Speaker 1: energy markets can't rely on major growth in the Permian basin.
Speaker 1: And so how do we think about, you know, the
Speaker 1: relationship between the US and opaque. Well, I think that's
Speaker 1: something that we've always grappled with UM to some extent. Uh.
Speaker 1: The challenge has been over the last few years, capital
Speaker 1: capital spending CAPEX has been cut uh, and so you
Speaker 1: aren't seeing these major capital projects come online like we
Speaker 1: have in for instance, two thousand and eight, two thousand nine,
Speaker 1: when we saw UM significant challenges from a price standpoint.
Speaker 1: So we haven't seen the major investment from a major
Speaker 1: topic project from the international companies to the extent we
Speaker 1: saw before. And so I think that's something that particularly
Speaker 1: as we go through the energy transition, that's something that
Speaker 1: we're going to have to keep in mind. There is
Speaker 1: a mix as we get to that zero, and we've
Speaker 1: got to plan uh and invest accordingly. All Right, Angie,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us. Great to get your take,
Speaker 1: and UM, i'd love to we don't have time today,
Speaker 1: but i'd love to talk a little about your charity
Speaker 1: work as well. Everybody we talked to in Texas is
Speaker 1: really philanthropic and working hard for children and for the
Speaker 1: homeless in terms of charity, and I think it's pretty
Speaker 1: fantastic UM and should be lauded. So Aye Guilda there.
Speaker 1: She is national sector leader Energy, Natural Resources and Chemicals
Speaker 1: for KPMG. It is internet Sam. The Women's Day now,
Speaker 1: I know you and I were talking about yesterday. How
Speaker 1: um it kind of annoys you that we have a
Speaker 1: Women's History Month, because every month should be Women's History month.
Speaker 1: I always say I want half the year. I do
Speaker 1: think it's awesome though, that there's an International Women's Day,
Speaker 1: And in some places I used to live in Berlin,
Speaker 1: they actually give you the day off, which I think
Speaker 1: it's a great way to recognize. Marianne is Gandarian joins
Speaker 1: us right now. She's the CEO and president Women's World
Speaker 1: Banking UM and has a lot of experience on Wall Street.
Speaker 1: Comes out of UH Georgetown and Yale. UM. So doing
Speaker 1: incredibly well. Mary Allen, what what are your thoughts on
Speaker 1: International Women's Day as we can try and kind of
Speaker 1: separate ourselves from um, the war and what's going on.
Speaker 1: I guess we can come back to that in a second,
Speaker 1: But just in terms of working on Wall Street as
Speaker 1: a woman, how has it changed? Oh? My goodness, UM,
Speaker 1: it's great to be great to be with you, and
Speaker 1: I feel much the same way at women's role banking.
Speaker 1: Every day is the International Women's Day. UM. I think
Speaker 1: the big thing that's changed, and certainly UM COVID has
Speaker 1: been of the exceplerator of that, is that we're finally
Speaker 1: throwing a light on some of the inequalities that have
Speaker 1: always existed. That you know, women have always borne more
Speaker 1: of the unpaid care responsibilities at home, juggling, you know,
Speaker 1: family job, educating the kids. Has just been thrown into
Speaker 1: really stark relief these these last two years. And now
Speaker 1: we're seeing women going back into the into the workforce
Speaker 1: at a slower pace than men. Their unemployment rates were
Speaker 1: higher um than men. So on the one end, not
Speaker 1: a whole lot has changed. On the other hand, at
Speaker 1: least we're talking about it. There's a light being shown
Speaker 1: on these issues. Now you've come out with a book
Speaker 1: on this that there's nothing micro about a billion women.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you could talk a little about the
Speaker 1: challenges and really the opportunity used to be extending more
Speaker 1: credit to women who have found it so difficult to
Speaker 1: get a loan to start a business. So so glad
Speaker 1: you asked that but you know, actually, part of the
Speaker 1: you know, double entendre if you will, of the title
Speaker 1: is that it's it's not just about micro loans. It's
Speaker 1: not just about very small loans. It's about really making
Speaker 1: sure that all women, and there are over a billion
Speaker 1: women around the world who have no access to financial
Speaker 1: UM products and services at all, making sure that they
Speaker 1: have access to all of them. We could be adding
Speaker 1: fifty billion dollars annually to retail banking revenues. If women
Speaker 1: were banked at the same degree of men, you could
Speaker 1: have another fifty billion in annual insurance premiums life insurance
Speaker 1: premiums alone. If insurance companies UM insured women at the
Speaker 1: same rate, you'd have two trillion dollars additional UM savings
Speaker 1: deposits made. I mean, you can you can fund a
Speaker 1: whole lot of infrastructural a lot of things UM if
Speaker 1: you were banking women at the same rates that you're
Speaker 1: banking One thing I wonder a lot about and humor
Speaker 1: me here and one hand, this idea that blockchain and
Speaker 1: cryptocurrency and digital payments could expand access to financial services
Speaker 1: for people around the world, underserved communities around the world.
Speaker 1: On one hand, that's an amazing idea. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: you see the industry still really lacking diversity in a
Speaker 1: big way. I'm wondering if you think about the way
Speaker 1: the financial system is evolving, whether it's meeting that opportunity
Speaker 1: that you're talking about. I love that you're bringing your
Speaker 1: You're bridging the idea of the people who run the
Speaker 1: businesses that people who are served by the businesses being
Speaker 1: you know, somewhat at odds here. Let me just first
Speaker 1: se leaving aside crypto for a moment. Digital financial services
Speaker 1: has been a revolutionary, a game change for providing sort
Speaker 1: of last mile financial services to people who have never
Speaker 1: had access to finance before, mainly because you've finally gotten
Speaker 1: the price and the cost of those very small transactions
Speaker 1: which poor people, um do. They maybe do more transacting,
Speaker 1: but they do each individual transaction UM at a much
Speaker 1: smaller amount. It finally makes sense financially to do that.
Speaker 1: And so you've really seen, um just a complete game
Speaker 1: change on the field of broader access to finance. But
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right, and you know, and frankly, fintech, which
Speaker 1: is supposed to be so disruptive, is actually worse than
Speaker 1: the mainstream of the financial sector. You know, you've only
Speaker 1: got something like four percent of FinTechs even have one
Speaker 1: woman on their board. And we know that diversity, uh
Speaker 1: in board diversity in any group is going to be
Speaker 1: much better at solving complex problems than a completely um
Speaker 1: non diverse group is. So there's only benefit to be
Speaker 1: gained by bringing more more women, were people's colors, more
Speaker 1: diverse people around the table. You have some amazing statistics there,
Speaker 1: and it makes me wonder, you know, if it comes
Speaker 1: down to the numbers and there's this huge underserved need
Speaker 1: here by the numbers, what has kept banks from serving
Speaker 1: women for so long? Uh? This is uh that this
Speaker 1: is our life's work really, But I think one of
Speaker 1: the big pieces that we're always kind of hammering home
Speaker 1: is is just making sure that financial service providers have
Speaker 1: to report on a gender disegregated data basis, so that
Speaker 1: we know how are women using products, how are they
Speaker 1: using services, and are they reporting those to their banking superintendent,
Speaker 1: to the to the central bank, Because when they do,
Speaker 1: you can really start to shape policy, you can start
Speaker 1: to shape products. If you don't know who your client
Speaker 1: is and how they use your product, you know that
Speaker 1: you're kind of dead and dead in the water. What
Speaker 1: we do see in addition to that, though, unfortunately, is
Speaker 1: is we've seen in Latin America. For example, there was
Speaker 1: a survey done um hundred and ten banks who actually
Speaker 1: did report to their banking superintendent on gender disaggregated data
Speaker 1: basis on only four of them. Four banks use that
Speaker 1: data then in making decisions. So I think it's both
Speaker 1: a question of collecting it and then using it to
Speaker 1: drive decisions. I wanted to save a couple of minutes,
Speaker 1: Mary Allen, just to ask you about the women um
Speaker 1: of Ukraine. Who are you know, uh, currently maybe a
Speaker 1: million streaming women alone streaming across borders as refugees. We saw,
Speaker 1: of course a huge refugee crisis out of Syria into
Speaker 1: Europe about six seven years ago. And um, these women
Speaker 1: aren't not just under banked, but in under incredible stress,
Speaker 1: especially since oftentimes everything is left to them in terms
Speaker 1: of organization and figuring out how the family is going
Speaker 1: to function, what can be done. Well, I'm just so
Speaker 1: glad you've you've highlighted this and I really resonated with
Speaker 1: what you were saying, with your experience in Berlin. I
Speaker 1: lived in Russia for a short time of twenty five
Speaker 1: years ago, and it was for the first time I
Speaker 1: even knew there was such a thing as International Women's Day.
Speaker 1: They hand you flowers on the street. You get on
Speaker 1: the Metro and people are handing you flowers. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's really it's a big deal and it's a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. Um and it's just such a sharp contrast,
Speaker 1: as you say, to the women who are being separated
Speaker 1: from their families, driven from their homes and into refugee camps.
Speaker 1: I mean where I'm heartened in some way, um, in
Speaker 1: comparison to the Syrian refugees we saw where where women
Speaker 1: were forced out of their homes in the Syrian crisis.
Speaker 1: You know, they weren't banked, they didn't necessarily have cell phones,
Speaker 1: they didn't actually have did you access to their their
Speaker 1: financial services. At least these women from Ukraine have access
Speaker 1: to the technology and hopefully there you know, their banks
Speaker 1: will be able to follow them over over the border.
Speaker 1: But it's a developing crisis. We've seen some um, it's
Speaker 1: some real interest in the researchers who track on an
Speaker 1: underbanked women in looking at this refugee crisis. This is
Speaker 1: going to be on almost exclusively female refugee crisis and
Speaker 1: one of people who have access to the technology that
Speaker 1: we're so hopeful will be able to help them as
Speaker 1: they go into this next very sad chapter of their lives.
Speaker 1: All right, uh, Mary Allen, great talking to you, and
Speaker 1: we should do it more often than on International Women's
Speaker 1: Day obviously, so I hope we can get you back
Speaker 1: very soon. Mary Allen, Iskandarian their CEO on President of
Speaker 1: Women's World Banking. I want to get over to jaraln Ritter,
Speaker 1: head of External Affairs and SG at Oregon On, and
Speaker 1: first off say that Paul would be so disappointed to
Speaker 1: be out today because Jerlyn is a ducal um um.
Speaker 1: Kind of a big deal for Paul. But Jerlyn, you
Speaker 1: also um studied law at Stanford and international economics at
Speaker 1: Johns Hopkins. I think a great time to have uh
Speaker 1: you on, especially with your experience at at MERK and
Speaker 1: now at organon um. Is it difficult to navigate E
Speaker 1: s G at a time when you know our values
Speaker 1: are changing. I was just watching President Biden defend his
Speaker 1: administration's bona fides when it comes to allowing oil producers
Speaker 1: to drill um. You know, less than a year ago,
Speaker 1: Democrats on Capitol Hill were ripping apart banks for funding
Speaker 1: oil producers UM to drill. So it's like it was
Speaker 1: bad then, but it's good now. Thanks for the question.
Speaker 1: I'm delighted to be here to provide organ on perspective,
Speaker 1: especially on International Women's Day. We are a women's health company.
Speaker 1: Our vision is to make a better and healthier every
Speaker 1: day for every woman and e s G is absolutely,
Speaker 1: as you noted, an evolving area, and it can be
Speaker 1: tricky for our company. However, our cole purpose is to
Speaker 1: improve women's health and advanced gender equity. But we really
Speaker 1: see no conflict at all between our business objectives and
Speaker 1: what is good for society and our many stakeholders. You know,
Speaker 1: you can call it s G, but but frankly it's
Speaker 1: it's just good long term business planning. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't questioning your policy at organ On. I
Speaker 1: just thought, since you have so much experience in business, UM,
Speaker 1: since you have studied this at Johns Hopkins, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure you dipped into it at Stanford and Duke as well,
Speaker 1: I could get your take on what's going on today
Speaker 1: as President Biden steps out and UM bands oil from Russia,
Speaker 1: and it's not just on the oil side. It's interesting
Speaker 1: if you look at it, uh, you know, the changing
Speaker 1: UM values in E s G. We would have banned
Speaker 1: for example, and maybe people still don't want to invest
Speaker 1: in weapons producers. But on the other hand, you do
Speaker 1: want the Ukrainians to be able to defend themselves. So
Speaker 1: I was hoping to ask you, aside from your role
Speaker 1: at Oregon on of course, I want to get back
Speaker 1: to that in International Women's Day. You know what you
Speaker 1: think about UM the environment right now? Yeah, you You're
Speaker 1: absolutely right, and it is different for every single company,
Speaker 1: and the circumstances are changing so quickly and so dramatically.
Speaker 1: It's really a reason why company these need to, regardless
Speaker 1: of your sector, being really close touch with all of
Speaker 1: your stakeholders. I think that's critical for the long term
Speaker 1: sustainability of companies. And you know, as the political environment evolves,
Speaker 1: as you know, stakeholder and investor perceptions evolve and expectations change,
Speaker 1: companies just have to keep up. You can't rely on
Speaker 1: what was good enough five years ago. You know, it's interesting,
Speaker 1: I'm wondering for a company that focuses on women's health
Speaker 1: later on today and Blomberg Television. We also have Dina
Speaker 1: shaker On whose works at Lux Capital. She is a
Speaker 1: investor in women's health. In the venture capital world, you
Speaker 1: look at Oregon On and the stock is up more
Speaker 1: at a time when the SMP is down. I'm wondering
Speaker 1: about the investor interest here to invest in women and
Speaker 1: invest in women's health and the products around serving women.
Speaker 1: That's a great question. You know. Organ On was born
Speaker 1: precisely because of the tremendous unmet needs in women's health.
Speaker 1: And we've been working very hard to educate UH investors,
Speaker 1: policy makers, all sorts of stakeholders about those unmet needs,
Speaker 1: about the disparities that are often overlooked frankly in women's
Speaker 1: health for far too long. And so that is our
Speaker 1: mission and it's a great space to be in. We
Speaker 1: strive to be the leader in women's health. We have
Speaker 1: the strength to do it. We've got great products, and
Speaker 1: we are very actively looking to grow our pipeline precisely
Speaker 1: to meet those unmet needs that are out there. Do
Speaker 1: you think do you think by the way that the
Speaker 1: pandemic um pulled back the curtain showed us the brutal
Speaker 1: truth of some of the inequalities, because I think a
Speaker 1: lot of us have been feeling so good about how
Speaker 1: much progress we've made in terms of gender equity. But
Speaker 1: you look at what happened during the pandemic, and women
Speaker 1: were um hurt on an in an outsized way, and um,
Speaker 1: the problems that I think we haven't solved were really exposed.
Speaker 1: Does that help us to move forward and do better?
Speaker 1: You know? I I'm not sure that the pandemic it
Speaker 1: did pull back the curtain, but it actually made it
Speaker 1: much worse. It didn't just reveal those inequities, it made
Speaker 1: them worse. You know. I've seen estimates that five million
Speaker 1: women have left the workforce in the US alone just
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years. Some studies show it's
Speaker 1: going to take women literally decades, up to three decades
Speaker 1: to regain that process in the workforce. So the pandemic, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it's I think it's been much worse for women and
Speaker 1: simply exposing existing inequalities, it absolutely has made them worse.
Speaker 1: All right, Gerlyn, thanks so much for joining us. Jerylyn
Speaker 1: Ritter there, head of External Affairs and E. S. G
Speaker 1: at Oregon On, thanks for listening to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast.
Speaker 1: You can subscribe and listen to interviews with Apple Podcasts
Speaker 1: or whatever podcast platform you prefer. I'm Matt Miller. I'm
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Matt Miller three. On ball Sweeney, I'm
Speaker 1: on Twitter at pt Sweeney. Before the podcast, you can
Speaker 1: always catch us worldwide at Bloomberg Radio