WEBVTT - CEO of UK Female-Focused Investment Platform Talks DE&I Backlash 0:00:00.000 --> 0:00:02.279 Peak and Red Cross is helping with shelter. A federal 0:00:02.320 --> 0:00:05.000 department is about to begin a path through elimination, as 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:06.680 CBS's Erica Brown tells. 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:09.520 US, President Trump is expected to sign an executive order 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:13.200 Thursday aimed at dismantling the Department of Education, one of 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:17.160 his key campaign promises. Fully eliminating the Department of Education 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.320 would require congressional approval. 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:22.840 The US comes in twenty fourth on the Worldwide Happiness 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:26.320 Report Just Out. Co editor Jan Emmanuel Danube says social 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.080 isolation is an issue, especially with the younger people. 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.479 Youth in America are twice as likely to be sharing 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:34.040 no meals whatsoever. 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.120 With anyone in the past day, and was the case 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:37.040 twenty years ago. 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:39.760 He said, if only people under thirty were polled, the 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.600 US would rank much lower. CBS News Brief, I'm Michael Toscano. 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.000 Miss the top headlines on Bloomberg eleven three to zero. 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:51.400 Get the latest news when you want it, updated continuously 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:55.240 throughout the day with Bloomberg News Now. 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This event is 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:28.079 presented by Investco QQQ Invesco distributors, in register at Bloomberg 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.320 Live dot com, Slash Sports. 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:34.200 Bloomberg Radio on demand, and in your podcast feed. 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.680 On the latest edition the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast, a conversation 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.600 with Bloomberg New Senior reporter Claire Ruken on how private 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.000 equity firms are getting rid of their equity. 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:45.960 If you look at where del flow's coming from, you've 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:49.240 got a lot of refinancing, a visit of existing debt, 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:51.880 and then you've also got these dividends now happening. It's 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.720 like the next stage on because the debt markets are 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.720 so hot, so there's been a record level of inflows 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.480 into credit funds and cluster is loan obligations, which are 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.359 the biggest buyers of loans, and they're desperate to put 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.639 their money to work. And because there's been a lack 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:09.919 of em and a and a lack of new places 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.600 to put this money, sponsors have been able to get creative. 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:18.120 That's private equity firms, and they are doing dividend recaps, 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.840 so they're adding deb onto companies and taking it out 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.240 in the form of dividends. And this is something that 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:27.440 investors traditionally don't like because obviously you're piling leverage onto 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:31.000 a company and it's something that's usually a logo. But 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:33.400 because the debt markets are so hot at the moment, 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.040 they're like, Yeah, this is great. It's a new place 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:39.680 to you know, put new capital, and so they're giving 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:41.320 the go ahead to them basically. 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.160 So usually when we talk to private equity guys, they're like, 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.640 look like, you're locketting your money five, seven, ten years, 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:49.600 it's going to be fine. We can manage any sort 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:52.600 of big swings in volatility. Does that still ring true 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:55.360 or are we seeing some issues here? When liquidity tightens up, 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.320 it gets harder and harder to find ways around it. 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:02.320 They are having some difficult ties. They're having difficulties showing 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.800 those exits. So whether it's via the IPO market or 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.360 the M and A market, they just haven't come back 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.000 yet to the level that they would have wanted. 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.640 Here the full conversation on the latest edition of the 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:19.200 Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Subscribe on app or Spotify and anywhere 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.320 else you get your podcasts, Plus listen anytime on the 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.760 Bloomberg Business app. In Bloomberg dot. 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:35.600 Com, markets headlines and breaking news twenty four hours a 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:39.600 day on Blueberg Radio, Blueberg Television and the Blueberg Business app. 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.200 This is a Blueberg Business Flash. 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:46.839 London. Good morning, I'm Stephen Carroll. Let's bring it up 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:48.560 to speed on what's moving on market. So as we 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:50.440 come down to the start of the European cash trade, 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:52.800 we're looking at eurostocks fifty futures down two tenths of 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.520 one percent, similar top priced in for the catcar on 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:57.320 and the docks at the open the foote one hundred 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.400 den just a tenth of one percent in futures this morning. 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.680 On currency markets, we are seeing a further weakening in 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:04.839 the pound and the euro against the dollar, so both 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:06.800 are down three tenths of one percent, the pound at 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.479 one twenty nine sixty six. We have that new labor 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.280 market data out at the top of the are showing 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.120 wage growth excluding bonuses at five point nine percent a 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:16.960 year on year, so remaining strong and that in focus 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.200 ahead of today's Bank of England decision as well. We're 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.840 not expecting the bank to move interest rates, although we'll 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.239 be watching to see any commentary around how they're pricing 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.240 or dealing with the uncertainty on the trade front. We 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.000 did have commentary out of Jerome pal from the Federal 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:34.880 Reserve yesterday talking really about downplaying the risk of the impacts, 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.839 applying the word transitory controversial as it might be in 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.520 center banking circles to what he's expecting the inflation impact 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:43.680 of those trade tariffs to be. We did see the 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.039 S and P five hundred rally by one point one 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.360 percent yesterday, and futures on the S and P five 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.760 hundred are pointing higher this morning, up by another four 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.359 tenths of one percent. Less positive picture of equities in 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:57.520 Asia though, the HANGSGNG down two point three percent. Tech 0:05:57.560 --> 0:05:59.320 shares there among the sell off down by three point 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.760 five percent, and Mark is taking note of an interview 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:05.200 in the Ft with Jensen Wang from Nvidia looking at 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.720 the potential for more investment in the US for its facilities. 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:10.680 That's something to be a boost for that industry, but 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:14.920 perhaps less good news for Asia. Elsewhere on markets, keeping 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.240 an eye on Goal prices a touchweaker this morning after 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.479 hitting another record high three forty five dollars a Troy Ount's. 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:22.080 And just a word on Turkey as well, after the 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:24.320 big droft that we saw in Turkey's benchmark stock in 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.120 dress yesterday. The bis T one hundred is up by 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:29.320 one point seven percent today. It was general had eight 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.800 percent in trading yesterday. The Turkeys leyer of flat on 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.039 the day after it dropped to a record low against 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.960 the dollar following the arrest of a top opposition politician. 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.000 That is your Bloomberg radio business flash. 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:40.720 Stephen, Thank you so much. I'm Caroline Heppy. Good time 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:42.640 there to look. Some other stories making news in the 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.760 ukn around the world. President Vladimi Zelinski has back to 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.839 a US proposal for Ukraine and Russia to stop strikes 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.560 on energy infrastructure. The Ukrainian leader told US person Donald 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.159 Trump it would be one of the first steps to 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.400 fully ending the wall. As well, has sent troops back 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:02.360 into girls in what it's described as limited ground operations. 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.960 It's the country's first incursion since the six weeks ceaspar 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.920 lapsed earlier this month. Officials are vowing further pressure unless 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.920 her mass releases. It's fifty nine remaining hostages, and the 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.040 UK has dropped three places to twenty three in the 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.840 world happiness rankings. Finland topped the list for the eighth 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.559 year in a row, with Afghanistan bottom and the US 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.600 also falling to its lowest ever position those. A sum 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:29.560 of our global news headlines. 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.160 Now Starting, carried out by aj Bell and twenty twenty 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:35.559 two found a significant investment gap between men and women 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:37.800 in the UK of as much as one point sixty 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.120 five trillion pounds? How much could addressing that help to 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.560 boost the UK investment landscape? In a bid to close 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:47.680 the gap, former Goldman Sachs executive Isiho Fori founded Propelled, 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.160 the UK's first female focused investment platform. For a work, 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.880 Iho has been shortlisted for birth Kliko's Bold Future Award 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.480 and she's with us in studio now for more. Issha, 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:00.240 good morning to you. What is the background to the 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.720 issue here? Why are women in the UK investing less 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:03.000 than men? 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:06.320 There are a few reasons. One of them, i'd say, well, 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:09.640 the main one is that women lack confidence, or i'd 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.160 say it's perceived confidence. Often when you ask them lots 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.440 of questions and things like this, they do actually know 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.000 more about investing than they think. However, they don't act 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.000 on it because they think that they need to know 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.440 more or they need an expert to sort of guide them. 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.000 So they inevitably tend to be savers rather than investors. 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.600 Okay, isn't this also part of the gender pay gap 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:33.760 and the fact that women often work slightly fewer hours 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.880 fewer years on average over the course of their working lives. 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:38.920 So that is part of it, but not all of 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:40.960 the story. It's a number of things, So the pay 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.280 gap obviously is one of them. Women are the ones 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.400 who have children and tend to be the careers, so 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.720 take time out. Women also tend to be the carers 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:53.720 for relatives, parents, and then women also are affected quite 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.160 a lot during menopause and take time out again. So 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.560 when you add all of these things together on top 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.480 of the fact that women live longer and that they're 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.720 saving rather than investing, it all sort of contributes to 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:05.760 the problem. 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:09.880 So there's huge untapped potential here as well to boost 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.600 both investment and individual wealth. 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:13.480 How do you tackle it? 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.360 So for us, it was really about trying to understand 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.880 the psychology of women when it comes to money in investing, 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.600 but also what are those hurdles that have been holding 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.440 women back and how can we put those into a 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:31.120 platform that's accessible to the masses and enable women to 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:35.440 really feel comfortable and confident when they start investing. That's 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.120 the only way to sort of shift the behavior from 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:39.880 saving more towards investing. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.640 Are you concern that perhaps initiative like the initiatives like 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:48.720 yours might suffer some pushback as we see a rollback 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.240 of diversity actually an inclusion in the United States and 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:54.640 that focus on women. Do you think that that perhaps 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:56.520 will affect what happens here in the UK? 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.440 I think absolutely. One of the ways that we reach 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:03.559 women is working with corporates, and we've already started to 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:07.120 see a shift. But it's really interesting the individuals within 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.640 those companies, particularly in the UK, are sort of like, 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:12.600 we still love what you're doing, we still want to help. However, 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.839 you know, money and funding and sort of departments are 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.040 being shut down. That said, they still recognize the need 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:23.200 and so they are still trying to see how we 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.240 can continue to work together. But I've never been afraid 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.559 of sort of having that pushback. Even when I first 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:30.560 had the idea, a lot of people told me I 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.280 was insane and if women weren't investing, they didn't want to. 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:38.800 Well, investing in female lab businesses is a broaderish as well, 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.480 one being highlighted this morning by Hannah Bernhard, the co 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.480 chair of the invest In Women Task Force in the 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.880 UK as well, writing in the Financial Times, what is 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:51.160 the issue and is it getting worse? I mean, I 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.240 wonder what your own experience was even getting investment for 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:53.959 your own company. 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:56.960 I use the word horrendous, and I don't use it lightly. 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.680 I perhaps was a bit naive and thought that it 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.720 wouldn't be so challenging for me. I know the statistics 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.600 around women, but also it's even worse for black women. 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.080 But I sort of said to myself, I have a 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.760 master's degree in physics from Imperial, I worked at Morgan 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.600 Stanley Goldman Sachs. I've got an MBA from London Business School. 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.040 Surely those things count for something. But it was still 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:23.640 incredibly difficult and inevitably. What I found is that a 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.040 lot of the investors are men. They're the ones that 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:29.960 tend to have money that they're looking to invest in 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:34.520 these types of businesses. And I guess it's partly they 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.920 didn't understand the story or the need as to why 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.920 women need additional resources or an investment platform for women. 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.720 But I also think it's just inherent biases as well. 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.560 But the way that I got around it is, you know, 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.840 over seventy percent of my investors are women because they 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.600 just naturally understood what we were doing and were also 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.720 prepared to invest in a business run by a woman. 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:01.640 Okay, how is propelled doing as a plan? I you know, 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:05.760 I'm very interested in this subject because on the one hand, 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.680 you've got you know, like Hannah Bernard and Debbie Wosco 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.680 who are leading the government, backed back by Rachel Rees's 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.920 sort of personally the invest In Women's Task Force focus 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.720 on women. Okay, invest in in female led businesses is 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:22.880 going down, but nonetheless they're you know, they're they're making 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.520 that case. And on the other hand, a lot of 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:29.480 kind of female led clubs in London, for example, trying 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:33.600 to build networking bridges. Those have shut down recently. So 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.480 it's it's really a very difficult space. How are you 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.360 going to manage this and navigate this when it comes 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:41.599 to propel itself and building that business. 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.360 So I think a lot of resilience, I say, is 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:48.600 the first thing. But when you speak to women, what 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:50.920 I found is they actually do want to invest. We're 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.400 also going through something called the Great Wealth Transfer, so 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.600 women are amassing wealth and accelerating rate. I think it's 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.439 actually this year that the statistics say that sixty percent 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:01.480 of UK health is going to be controlled by women. 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.280 So women are getting more and more wealth and when 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:06.559 you do actually speak to them, they want to invest. 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.120 So for me, it's more about finding them. How do 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.120 we reach them, And we do that, as I said, 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:16.160 through companies, through organizations, but actually we've grown massively just 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:19.120 by word of mouth, referrals and social media. 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:21.400 Are you worried though, with as you described it, how 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.800 companies are reorientating their approach to efforts like this, that 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.360 that funnel for you gets cut off. 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:31.680 I think in a sense of potentially companies paying for 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.720 some of the services we provide. Yes, but we can 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:37.240 still go into these companies and engage with their women's 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:39.439 networks and things like this, and that has been incredibly 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:40.199 fruitful for us. 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:43.320 So, as I said, some more informal connections necessarily then 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.360 perhaps the former ones funneled through 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:50.400 Companies exactly exactly, So maybe the company can't formally engage 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:52.920 in the same way anymore, but the individuals in these 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.800 companies absolutely do, so those doors are still open.