A Long Time In Finance

By Jonathan Ford and Neil CollinsBusiness

A Long Time In Finance episodes

December 01, 2023 The Problem of The Twelve
No, it's not a novel by GK Chesterton; it's the takeover of the world's investment markets by a sinister posse of giant passive fund managers and private equity firms. These now possess the sort of political and economic power that would have made John Rockefeller green with envy. We talk to John Coates, professor at Harvard Law School and author of a new book on "The Twelve", about Blackstone, BlackRock and the rest; where the threat lies and how we should manage it.

Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.
With John Coates.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
30 min
November 03, 2023 Carbon Offsets: Dude, Where's My Trees?
Carbon offsets seemed a neat idea: pay poor people in the Global South not to cut down trees, and then use that "avoided" carbon to sell credits to polluters in developed countries. Bish bosh, your Delta Airlines flight or VW SUV is carbon neutral. What could possibly go wrong?
Neil and Jonathan pick through the rubble of the South Pole scandal with environmental consultant Andrew Garraway to find exactly what did.

Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.
With Andrew Garraway.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
34 min
October 27, 2023 The Great Private Equity Tax Swindle
In 1987, the emerging private equity industry successfully lobbied the government to slip them a tax break. It allows private equiteers to take huge bonuses from the appreciation of client funds they invest in buyouts (a wedge called "carried interest"), and pay a preferentially low rate of tax on these earnings. Now HMRC may be thinking again. We talk to tax expert Dan Neidle about the origin of this boondoggle and why - as a matter of actual law, let alone fairness - it's never been justified, and why the government should now clarify the position.

Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.
With Dan Neidle.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
25 min
October 06, 2023 As Good As Gold?
It's more than a decade since an American investor described the UK's gilts market as resting "on a bed of nitroglycerine". But with government bonds facing a plethora of troubles right now, from surging issuance driven both by current deficits and monetary policy, to persistent inflation, it's time to turn again to UK investor and self styled "bond vigilante, Jim Leaviss of M&G to ask if there has ever been a worse time to hold a gilt.

Presented by Neil Collins, with the somewhat tardy participation of Jonathan Ford.
With Jim Leaviss.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
24 min
September 29, 2023 Shortspiracy: The Apes v Wall Street
The recently released film, Dumb Money, recounts the tumultuous events of 2021 when a group of internet-enabled sans culottes took on Wall Street's finest in a battle over the future of Gamestop, an obscure electronic games retailer. But was it a financial revolution or an amusing (if tech enabled) throwback to the great stock market corners of the past? Neil and Jonathan talk to financial guru Izabella Kaminska about the Gamestop affair, its cultural and historic roots, and whether "flashmob" investing is here to stay.

Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.
With Izabella Kaminska.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
23 min
September 22, 2023 The Trussquake - One Year Later
Liz Truss is the Lady Jane Grey of British politics, lasting just 49 days as PM before swirling economic chaos swept her from office. But a year on, has Britain dusted itself off and rebuilt - or are we still picking through the ruins? Neil and Jonathan talk to economic historian Duncan Weldon about Truss's economic and political legacy, Sunak's problems and the still unanswered question of how to get more economic growth.

Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.
With Duncan Weldon.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
25 min
September 15, 2023 Nutrient Neutrality
The government is embroiled in a row about environmental protection. Should it apply pollution rules inherited from the EU in the way its own environmental advisers interpret them, or should it change the rules to help housebuilders construct more homes? Neil and Jonathan discuss the trade-offs with Robert Colvile, a self confessed housing nut who is director of the Centre for Policy Studies.

Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.
With Robert Colville.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
23 min
September 08, 2023 The Nine Lives of Credit Suisse: Part Two
In the concluding episode of our two part series, Jonathan and Neil look back on the dramatic events of March in the company of Josef Ackermann, who ran the Swiss bank in the 1990s, financial historian Philip Augar and banking analyst Frances Coppola. They consider the macro background to the bank's collapse, and ask whether things could have turned out differently or whether excessive risk taking was just baked into Credit Suisse's DNA.

Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
36 min
September 01, 2023 The Nine Lives of Credit Suisse: Part One
In March 2023 the unthinkable happened: Credit Suisse, that giant of Swiss banking, collapsed. Like the proverbial cat, it had run through its nine lives. From the Chiasso saga to unprecedented corporate fines, via troubled times on Wall Street, Credit Suisse had always lived dangerously. And finally, in 2023, the financial winds caught up with them. In this first part of a two-part special of A Long Time in Finance, Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins are joined by experts Josef Ackermann, former President of Credit Suisse's executive board, financial historian Philip Augar, and banking analyst Frances Coppola, to look at the history of a bank that lived fast and died young.

Part two of the story of Credit Suisse will be in your feeds next Friday – so please subscribe now.

Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
46 min
August 25, 2023 Renewables: Bad for Your Wealth?
With net zero targets in mind, countries like the UK have ambitious targets for renewable energy. But do these make any sense? None at all, according to Doomberg, the US energy analyst. In conversation with Neil and Jonathan, he explains why he's deeply bearish about wind power, why renewables make no sense at all in Western Europe, and how there's a direct link between rising wind and solar usage and declining standards of living.

Presented by Jonathan Ford and Neil Collins.
With Doomberg.
Produced and edited by Nick Hilton for Podot.
In association with Briefcase.News
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
25 min

About A Long Time In Finance

From the publisher's feed

The long view of finance, markets and money as seen by two veteran City editors, Neil Collins and Jonathan Ford, presented in partnership with The Library of Mistakes.

Hosted on Acast. See