Day two of Reuters definitive annual live journalist event Reuters NEXT took place on Thursday November 9th with global policymakers, business leaders and forward thinkers tackling the most significant challenges and opportunities facing society, business and the world at large.
Notable speakers on “The World Stage” global broadcast included United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona; Central Bank of Brazil President Roberto de Oliveira Campos Neto; Santander Chief Executive Officer Ana Botin; International Rescue Committee President David Miliband; Save the Children U.S. President & CEO Janti Soeripto; Lazard Chief Executive Officer Peter Orszag; Lanvin Chief Executive Officer Joann Cheng; France Economy & Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire; and Philippine Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
Take a look at the news highlights from the day’s sessions:
Santander’s Botin targets auto finance, renewables in U.S. banking push
Banco Santander Executive Chair Ana Botin plans to deepen the lender’s corporate banking presence in the U.S. in renewable finance, auto lending and wealth as part of a broader strategy to expand in the world’s biggest economy.
“Our strategy is very focused on playing to our strengths,” she said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York. “We will do better than our peers in a normalized interest-rate environment.”
Brazil central bank chief concerned with doubts about fiscal target
Brazil’s central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto on Thursday said any change to the country’s fiscal target would raise concerns, following comments by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva casting doubt on the government’s vow to erase a budget deficit.
Campos Neto told the Reuters NEXT conference in New York that “there is a lot of uncertainty on whether Brazil is going to be able to actually have a sustainable fiscal path,” adding that it pushes up risk premiums and affects monetary policy.
Goldman Sachs developing dozen generative AI projects -exec
Goldman Sachs is working on a dozen projects which will incorporate generative artificial intelligence into its business practices, a senior executive at the Wall Street giant told the Reuters NEXT conference in New York on Thursday.
Among the most mature of the projects include writing code in English-language commands, and being able to generate documentation, said George Lee, co-head of Goldman’s office of applied innovation.
Lazard CEO says global political risk severe
Lazard Chief Executive Officer Peter Orszag says the geo-political risk to the global economy is severe and that if the U.S. government shuts down next week Ukraine aid will be the cause.
Speaking at the Reuters Next conference in New York, Orszag pointed out the unusual combination of the constructive U.S. macro environment with severe political risks globally. He said Europe’s economy was less constructive and that he believed that China’s outlook in the medium term would also be challenging.
France will do more on spending if growth disappoints -Le Maire
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire committed on Thursday to taking further action to keep government spending in line with budget plans if economic growth proves weaker than expected.
The government aims to cut its public sector budget deficit from 4.9% of output this year to 4.4% next year before only gradually falling in line with an EU limit of 3% in 2027.
Egypt’s sovereign fund to complete historic hotels sale by year-end
Egypt will close the sale of a group of seven hotels, several of them historic, by the end of the year, the head of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt Ayman Soliman said on Thursday.
“It has been awarded. So we’re now in partnership moving towards a close before the end of the year, closing with the winning investors,” Soliman said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York. “They’re going to turn around those trophy assets in Egypt, and with a view of taking those public as well.”
US Education Dept to use ‘secret shoppers’ to monitor loan servicers
The U.S. Education Department will press forward with a “secret shopper” program to help ensure that companies properly service student loans as millions of borrowers begin repaying debt that had been put on hold during the pandemic.
“As we’re bringing folks back onto repayment, we need to make sure that the servicers are doing it well, and that they’re responsive to the needs of the borrowers and when they’re not, we’re going to hold them accountable,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told the Reuters NEXT conference.
US Treasury’s Adeyemo sees more actions against Hamas in coming days, weeks
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told Reuters NEXT on Thursday that the U.S. and its allies in the coming days and weeks will impose more sanctions to deny funds to Hamas after its attack last month on Israel, including cracking down on its use of crypto assets.
“We’re going to see actions taken by our allies and partners,” Adeyemo said. “Some of them will be publicly announced, some of them people will not see in terms of shutting down charities or going after individuals who may be helping to facilitate payments for Hamas.”
Head to Reuters.com for all the highlights from Reuters NEXT 2023.
Media contact:
Heather Carpenter
heather.carpenter @ tr.com