Latest / Bloomberg Intelligence / Office Space Cost Will Have To Come Down: IWG Global
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast. I'm Paul Sweeney. Along
- 0:04Speaker 1: with my co host of Bonnie Quinn. Every business day
- 0:06Speaker 1: we bring you interviews from CEOs, market pros, and Bloomberg experts,
- 0:10Speaker 1: along with essential market moving news. Kind the Bloomberg Markets
- 0:13Speaker 1: Podcast on Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts,
- 0:17Speaker 1: and on Bloomberg dot com. Well, let us turn out
- 0:20Speaker 1: to commercial real estate is suffering, that's for sure. Let's
- 0:25Speaker 1: bring in somebody who knows a lot about it. He
- 0:27Speaker 1: is founder of International Workplace Group otherwise known as i
- 0:31Speaker 1: w G Global Marketings and joins us. Now, Mark, just
- 0:34Speaker 1: give us the lay of the land. First of all, Well,
- 0:39Speaker 1: the lay of the land is not even The pandemic
- 0:44Speaker 1: has hit the metropolis city centers around the world. We
- 0:49Speaker 1: operate in a hundred twenty countries and that's been the
- 0:51Speaker 1: major impact. So in provincial locations countryside, we're up and
- 0:58Speaker 1: we're badly affected in down to down so people are
- 1:01Speaker 1: working close to where they live and they're working from home.
- 1:05Speaker 1: Our homework business has grown tenfold over the pandemic and
- 1:10Speaker 1: we're slightly hedged with that. So Mark, I guess one
- 1:14Speaker 1: of the questions that people are asking here is the
- 1:17Speaker 1: future of the city center itself? And this is a
- 1:20Speaker 1: I guess a global question. It's not just London in
- 1:23Speaker 1: New York. What is your view as we look towards
- 1:25Speaker 1: the other side of this pandemic about how the city
- 1:29Speaker 1: center as a work center will evolve. It changes forever.
- 1:34Speaker 1: It's rapid evolution. Um, you know, the the cities will
- 1:39Speaker 1: never be the same again. We will take some time
- 1:43Speaker 1: for the change to take place because people have to
- 1:47Speaker 1: get out of leases that they are already in. But
- 1:50Speaker 1: pretty much of all CEOs and leadership teams aren't now
- 1:58Speaker 1: positively in a mode of hybrid workings. Hybrid working means
- 2:03Speaker 1: the company saves lots of money, they can hire better talent,
- 2:07Speaker 1: and they allow people to work either from home or
- 2:10Speaker 1: close to home, and they come into a sort of
- 2:12Speaker 1: headquarters when they need to or if they haven't got
- 2:17Speaker 1: they live in the city itself. So, you know, hybrid
- 2:20Speaker 1: working has such strong economic and environmental advantages. It's going
- 2:26Speaker 1: to happen, and it's what people want. They've whatever people say.
- 2:30Speaker 1: For most the pandemic has gone on for too long,
- 2:34Speaker 1: but they have been quite productive working on zoom teams
- 2:39Speaker 1: and the like. You know, companies. It has worked. It's
- 2:42Speaker 1: an experiment that worked, and it will continue and it
- 2:46Speaker 1: will become the norm. So talk to us about occupancy rates.
- 2:51Speaker 1: Can you give us a sort of a percentage across
- 2:53Speaker 1: your portfolio and and also where you might be thinking
- 2:56Speaker 1: of getting out of commercial real estate the way it
- 2:59Speaker 1: is now changing it into something like storage or what
- 3:02Speaker 1: have you. Well, look for us. We we've we've got
- 3:07Speaker 1: three and a half thousand buildings. We're in all sorts
- 3:11Speaker 1: of markets. So look, we are expanding in the countryside.
- 3:15Speaker 1: We have been for a while actually because this change
- 3:18Speaker 1: was occurring prethe The pandemic is just accelerated with it
- 3:22Speaker 1: um and so we were expanding in the countryside. We
- 3:26Speaker 1: are adding more even in the cities. Because it's not
- 3:29Speaker 1: what companies are looking for a flexibility. They're looking for products.
- 3:35Speaker 1: They don't you know, what companies don't want or want
- 3:39Speaker 1: less of is a five or ten year least. They
- 3:41Speaker 1: want flexibility, they want products. So this for a company
- 3:45Speaker 1: like ours, where we provide a fully operational office ready
- 3:49Speaker 1: to use for a couple of people or for a
- 3:52Speaker 1: thousand people, you know that that is what's being being
- 3:55Speaker 1: looked for. So we're working more with property owners who
- 4:01Speaker 1: at the other end of this, if they're long in
- 4:03Speaker 1: the market, they are looking for different ways to get
- 4:07Speaker 1: revenue and providing a finished product is a great way
- 4:12Speaker 1: to do that. So we are seeing some growth. We
- 4:15Speaker 1: are adding capacity in some cities. We would expect that
- 4:18Speaker 1: to continue. So it's more in the countryside, the cities,
- 4:23Speaker 1: the provinces where people live, and in the cities themselves.
- 4:30Speaker 1: Apart from adding inventory, we're having to adjust prices of
- 4:35Speaker 1: out our input prices. I with our partners, we're having
- 4:39Speaker 1: to lower our costs in order to be more competitive
- 4:42Speaker 1: because it's going to be a much more competitive marketplace
- 4:46Speaker 1: because there's going to be less demand more supply. So
- 4:49Speaker 1: marketing some of these big city centers and I just
- 4:51Speaker 1: think the last time I was in London, there's cranes everywhere.
- 4:54Speaker 1: What are some of these commercial real estate owners going
- 4:56Speaker 1: to do with all this office space? Well, it's um,
- 5:03Speaker 1: it's going to get repurposed. I mean, look, the real
- 5:07Speaker 1: estate market is a market that's very fickle and I've
- 5:11Speaker 1: I've started our business thirty one years ago and I've
- 5:14Speaker 1: seen it go up and down, and it's it is
- 5:16Speaker 1: markets like London that have more oscillation. The bigger the city,
- 5:20Speaker 1: the more the move. But you know, in the future,
- 5:25Speaker 1: you know, cities are going to have to reinvent themselves
- 5:28Speaker 1: and become a more reasonably priced place to live. And
- 5:33Speaker 1: you know, the cost of office place will have to
- 5:35Speaker 1: come down over time, so it has to be economical
- 5:38Speaker 1: for both for companies to be there. London, as an example,
- 5:42Speaker 1: became extremely expensive per person to house someone and the
- 5:48Speaker 1: cost of living I you know, people finding an apartment
- 5:52Speaker 1: close to where they live and not having to commute
- 5:56Speaker 1: for two hours a day to get there. It's that combination.
- 5:59Speaker 1: So there will be a repricing and I'm sure many
- 6:02Speaker 1: cities will reinvent themselves with lower prices and a tramp
- 6:06Speaker 1: favor back in. Hey, Mark, thank you so much for joining.
- 6:08Speaker 1: It's just a fascinating discussion. We really appreciate your insight.
- 6:11Speaker 1: Mark Dixon, founder and CEO of i w g A Global,
- 6:16Speaker 1: just giving us the view, the forecast, if you will,
- 6:19Speaker 1: of real estate and urban centers, a major evolution taking place.
- 6:26Speaker 1: Let's pivot to the consumer package goods business that's certainly
- 6:30Speaker 1: seen some changes here as a result of the pandemic.
- 6:32Speaker 1: We can do that with Jordan Gaspar Jordan's is managing
- 6:35Speaker 1: partner and president of A f Ventures, joining us on
- 6:38Speaker 1: the phone from Wellington, Florida. A Adventures is a women
- 6:43Speaker 1: owned VC firm focusing on better for you consumer brands
- 6:46Speaker 1: and categories including food and beverage, beauty and personnel care,
- 6:50Speaker 1: health and wellness, and whole bunch of others. Jordan, thanks
- 6:53Speaker 1: so much for joining us here. Talk to us about
- 6:55Speaker 1: the consumer package goods business. It seems, obviously as a
- 6:58Speaker 1: result of the pandemic be people are buying a lot
- 7:01Speaker 1: more in the supermarket, going out less to eat. What
- 7:05Speaker 1: are you seeing as some of these trends and how
- 7:07Speaker 1: permanent might they be? Hi, thank you so much for
- 7:10Speaker 1: having me so UM. As you said, I imagining partner
- 7:13Speaker 1: of Adventures, and we are a fund that exclusively invest
- 7:16Speaker 1: in consumer products across the verticals of food and beverage,
- 7:19Speaker 1: personal care, pet, beauty, health and wellness UM and so
- 7:23Speaker 1: of our over thirty five companies UM, thirty two of
- 7:26Speaker 1: them are food and beverage companies. And so it's been
- 7:27Speaker 1: an an interesting year for us UM, particularly as all
- 7:31Speaker 1: of our products are distributed UM at most of the
- 7:34Speaker 1: major retailers as well as online. UM. You know two
- 7:37Speaker 1: thousand and twenty will mark the year of changing consumption patterns.
- 7:41Speaker 1: You know, we saw um an increased emphasis of the
- 7:43Speaker 1: consumer on self care products, UM, the rise of personalization,
- 7:47Speaker 1: and just this general idea of food as health UM.
- 7:50Speaker 1: You know, coming in formats like inguestible beauty. Beyond that,
- 7:54Speaker 1: we saw the food itself, you know, continue to evolve
- 7:57Speaker 1: as people we're focusing on you know, healthy living directed
- 8:00Speaker 1: products like plant based alternatives. UM. But now with this
- 8:04Speaker 1: new concept of the grab and stay option, you know,
- 8:06Speaker 1: with so many people no longer going to eat out,
- 8:09Speaker 1: people need to find solutions that were easily adopted in
- 8:13Speaker 1: their homes. UM. And so we'll see a lot of
- 8:15Speaker 1: changes in two thousand and twenty one in terms of format,
- 8:19Speaker 1: packaging and continents and self and and really playing into
- 8:22Speaker 1: sort of a rise and sustainability in the space in general.
- 8:26Speaker 1: Way to hear about some of that, but the first
- 8:27Speaker 1: you have to give me an idea of what ingustible
- 8:29Speaker 1: beauty is. Yes, so inguestible beauty, I mean, you know,
- 8:34Speaker 1: they're sort of a blurring of the line between personal care,
- 8:37Speaker 1: beauty and food that have been occurring, and it had
- 8:40Speaker 1: started in predated COVID, but you know, we've invested in
- 8:42Speaker 1: the company called a New Code, which is a line
- 8:45Speaker 1: of products geared towards UM you know, you know, supporting skin, gut, mood, health,
- 8:50Speaker 1: UM and covers you know, different needs states of sleep, immunity,
- 8:53Speaker 1: focus and stress and comes in powder formats and capsules
- 8:57Speaker 1: and tinctures and so the idea is that UM not
- 9:00Speaker 1: just going to be topicals that you put on your skin,
- 9:02Speaker 1: but it's also going to be you know, things that
- 9:05Speaker 1: you put inside your body. And so if you think
- 9:07Speaker 1: about you know, some of the really big focus coming
- 9:10Speaker 1: out of this year and exits in the space you know,
- 9:12Speaker 1: v MS has been has had a really huge year
- 9:15Speaker 1: in terms of people really thinking about how to take
- 9:18Speaker 1: care of themselves from within. So how are brands dealing
- 9:23Speaker 1: UM Jordan's kind of much more of the of shopping,
- 9:27Speaker 1: including consumer products moving to e commerce. How are they
- 9:31Speaker 1: adopting to that. It's a new world for food and beverage, right,
- 9:35Speaker 1: you know, we knew that we had Amazon and you know,
- 9:38Speaker 1: detail in the form of Fresh directs UM. You know
- 9:41Speaker 1: that we're already players in the market UM, but during COVID,
- 9:45Speaker 1: click and collect UM and the ability for consumers to
- 9:48Speaker 1: be purchasing from Walmart and Target more easily. UM has
- 9:52Speaker 1: has really risen and and that will be a more
- 9:54Speaker 1: permanent shift. You know, people will go back eventually UM
- 9:58Speaker 1: into producing shelves and brick and mortar, but there will
- 10:01Speaker 1: be large spread adoption of some of these new UM
- 10:04Speaker 1: sort of sort omni distribution outlets. You know. Beyond that,
- 10:09Speaker 1: you know, digital marketing itself is going to change. You know,
- 10:12Speaker 1: for the first time, we're seeing fresh and frozen food
- 10:14Speaker 1: companies UM that are authentic young brands, developing DTWOC strategies,
- 10:19Speaker 1: and so you know, we're going to see what comes
- 10:21Speaker 1: out of this is just the true omni channel brands
- 10:24Speaker 1: UM and that brands will be built expecting to be
- 10:26Speaker 1: sold in brick and mortar as well as directly to
- 10:29Speaker 1: their consumers. Jordan's how many times have you been approached
- 10:33Speaker 1: by SPACs in the last few months for your various
- 10:35Speaker 1: portfolio companies. It is it is a stack moment in
- 10:39Speaker 1: the summer, so UM. I think that there is an
- 10:43Speaker 1: enormous amount of stack activity in the market. UM And
- 10:46Speaker 1: and we do think that you know, SPACs will certainly
- 10:48Speaker 1: find some UM great partners in food and beverage in
- 10:51Speaker 1: particular but across consumer So go on how many times
- 10:55Speaker 1: are there are there portfolio companies that you might be
- 10:57Speaker 1: looking to go public with that way? UM, I think
- 11:02Speaker 1: that the public markets have really opened up for food
- 11:05Speaker 1: and beverage. And I think that we do see that
- 11:07Speaker 1: with the success of companies like Beyond and Tattooed Chef.
- 11:10Speaker 1: There is no question, UM, there is now the strategy
- 11:13Speaker 1: for you know, liquidity, for these companies to not just
- 11:16Speaker 1: be private but also too you know in terms of
- 11:19Speaker 1: private act and sponsors, but to be increasingly in the
- 11:21Speaker 1: public markets. UM. And So There'll be a lot of
- 11:24Speaker 1: different outcomes, but there is it will be a big
- 11:27Speaker 1: year in food and beverage. So Jordan's our new products
- 11:31Speaker 1: coming to market during this pandemic or our consumer products
- 11:33Speaker 1: company saying our R and D our new product launches,
- 11:37Speaker 1: We're gonna wait till after It depends on who you're
- 11:39Speaker 1: talking to. UM. So I think that from the Bantas
- 11:42Speaker 1: point of our portfolio, new products are certainly coming to market.
- 11:45Speaker 1: There was you know a little bit of a brief
- 11:48Speaker 1: pause on innovation where pipelines were halted very temporarily early
- 11:52Speaker 1: on during COVID. For the UM the portfolio companies to
- 11:57Speaker 1: get their bearings and see, you know how things were
- 11:59Speaker 1: on full in retail, but that innovation was in process,
- 12:02Speaker 1: and so there's innovation that's now in process to come
- 12:05Speaker 1: onto shelf and did through the back half of the
- 12:08Speaker 1: year as well as in will in two thousand twenty
- 12:10Speaker 1: one because suppliers that were able to deliver and to
- 12:13Speaker 1: meet the expectations of their buyers were certainly allocated self space. UM.
- 12:18Speaker 1: Beyond that, there are new preferences that have been built
- 12:21Speaker 1: and so innovation lines are being developed off of changing
- 12:23Speaker 1: consumer preferences. So you know, we think innovation continues to thrive. UM.
- 12:27Speaker 1: It will just be you know, sort of quality manufacturers
- 12:32Speaker 1: who have the ability to to really um properly stock
- 12:36Speaker 1: the shelves and to deliver in a way that people
- 12:39Speaker 1: can trust that the products are going to meet expectations
- 12:41Speaker 1: of both the retail partners and the consumer. Jordan's thank
- 12:45Speaker 1: you so much for joining us today. Will certainly given
- 12:47Speaker 1: touch of you throughout the year. No doubt there will
- 12:49Speaker 1: be activity among your companies. Jordan Gaspar is moniting partner
- 12:53Speaker 1: and president of a f Adventure is a very interesting
- 12:56Speaker 1: consumer and packaged goods and beauty company h venture fund.
- 13:03Speaker 1: Let's put it that way. This morning, a preceived another
- 13:08Speaker 1: job's claims a number frustratingly higher, much higher than expected,
- 13:12Speaker 1: almost a million claims uh last month. Really putting pressure
- 13:16Speaker 1: on present like Biden too uh put through and propose
- 13:20Speaker 1: a much a significant fiscal stimulus plan to break it down.
- 13:24Speaker 1: We welcome Carl Ricka Donna, Chief US economist for Bloomberg Economics. Carl,
- 13:29Speaker 1: let's start with that jobless claim number. What's your takeaway? Well,
- 13:33Speaker 1: there's good news and there's bad news, Paul. The bad
- 13:36Speaker 1: news is that nearly a million people filed for unemployment
- 13:40Speaker 1: insurance last week. But the good news is that a
- 13:43Speaker 1: million people will be receiving unemployment checks to support their
- 13:47Speaker 1: income during this difficult period for the economy and one
- 13:52Speaker 1: of the critical uh, you know, issues for the economy
- 13:55Speaker 1: of building a bridge loan until we can reopen. The
- 14:00Speaker 1: economy and a lot of households, whether we look at
- 14:02Speaker 1: the income trends or food stamp applications or other types
- 14:06Speaker 1: of signs of financial stress, are really in a difficult
- 14:10Speaker 1: period right now. So we do need to paper over
- 14:13Speaker 1: some of the pain, patch up some of the pain
- 14:16Speaker 1: with the aid in terms of food stamps, unemployment checks,
- 14:19Speaker 1: and rebate checks from the government until we can get
- 14:23Speaker 1: to a post lockdown economy. In this week's data, we
- 14:28Speaker 1: see nearly more than two hundred thousand people more than
- 14:31Speaker 1: economists we're looking for claiming this week to January nine,
- 14:35Speaker 1: which is an interesting sort of little detail in itself.
- 14:38Speaker 1: Each one of these people not a detail, of course,
- 14:40Speaker 1: They're all human beings, and I'm curious as to why
- 14:44Speaker 1: economists might have got it so wrong. Are there more
- 14:47Speaker 1: people out there unemployed and underemployed that we're just not seeing? Well,
- 14:52Speaker 1: I think a big factor here. There's been a little
- 14:54Speaker 1: bit of a mystery since early November, when lockdown measures
- 14:59Speaker 1: start to intensify. We really didn't see the fallout in
- 15:03Speaker 1: the unemployment filings data. So we we expected way back
- 15:08Speaker 1: by before Thanksgiving even to start to see the steady
- 15:12Speaker 1: move higher and jobless claims over the last really last
- 15:15Speaker 1: eight weeks or so. Uh, and it only happened to
- 15:17Speaker 1: a very limited degree, which seemed inconsistent with restaurants being
- 15:22Speaker 1: shut down, indoor dining bands, and all of the other
- 15:24Speaker 1: restrictions that are going into place. So while I hate
- 15:28Speaker 1: to be vindicated, Uh in looking for that that we
- 15:31Speaker 1: do see that showing up in today's data. So you know,
- 15:33Speaker 1: at this time of year, there's very big seasonal factors
- 15:36Speaker 1: as people are laid off as cold weather sets in,
- 15:39Speaker 1: if they had outdoor employment, for instance, or holiday related hiring,
- 15:43Speaker 1: all of those things. Uh, they tend to distort the data.
- 15:46Speaker 1: And this is certainly an atypical period we're in. So
- 15:49Speaker 1: using typical seasonal factors is hard to apply to the
- 15:53Speaker 1: current environment, but it's really the best we can do
- 15:56Speaker 1: as as statisticians. Uh. The other factor is, uh the
- 16:00Speaker 1: recent passage of the stimulus bill. Uh, those sweetened unemployment
- 16:05Speaker 1: checks and also stimulus checks. That does incentivize some people
- 16:09Speaker 1: who may be figured it wasn't worth filing for unemployment
- 16:12Speaker 1: to actually uh take the effort to do it now
- 16:16Speaker 1: that there will be a more enticing reward, uh if
- 16:20Speaker 1: their applications accepted. Carl, We're expected to hear from President
- 16:23Speaker 1: le Biden later today talking about perhaps fiscal stimulus plan.
- 16:28Speaker 1: What do you really need to see in his plan? Well,
- 16:32Speaker 1: there's the the pie in the sky version, and there's
- 16:35Speaker 1: the reality of a split Senate with the Vice President
- 16:40Speaker 1: Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote, and so pie in
- 16:44Speaker 1: the sky stimulus, which could be green energy and infrastructure investment,
- 16:49Speaker 1: and of course aid uh for uh uh you know
- 16:52Speaker 1: the current economic downturn. Uh. That would be great if
- 16:57Speaker 1: we could see that, and that was certainly force GDP
- 16:59Speaker 1: to a higher number. But I think the reality of
- 17:01Speaker 1: the situation is that we're going to see much more
- 17:04Speaker 1: limited stimulus. Already, Joe Mansion of West Virginia has expressed
- 17:08Speaker 1: some concerns about astronomical price tag, so I think the
- 17:12Speaker 1: reality will be we can talk about a two trillion
- 17:15Speaker 1: dollar plan, we're more likely to see six eight hundred billion. Carl.
- 17:20Speaker 1: Speaking of major speeches, today, we hear from Jerry J. Powell.
- 17:24Speaker 1: Is he likely to say anything that will surprise the market?
- 17:28Speaker 1: I don't think so. J. Powell is giving speaking on
- 17:32Speaker 1: an academic lecture at the Princeton University Benheim Center for Finance,
- 17:38Speaker 1: so I'm an alumni of that. So that's exciting in
- 17:41Speaker 1: that regard. But as an election, you know, as they
- 17:45Speaker 1: an opportunity to really steer the markets, this doesn't seem
- 17:49Speaker 1: like the right platform to be doing that. So at
- 17:52Speaker 1: best I think we might get some insight into how
- 17:55Speaker 1: he is thinking about the inflation and growth landscape, but
- 17:58Speaker 1: this is not the opportunity to really create a new
- 18:02Speaker 1: policy signal. Carl Rick Donna, thank you as always. Carl
- 18:07Speaker 1: is chief you as economist for Bloomberg Economics, and we
- 18:10Speaker 1: always appreciate his insights. Once again, that initial jobs claims
- 18:13Speaker 1: data coming out and just you know, sending chills down
- 18:18Speaker 1: our spines. Sixty five thousand people filing claims to the
- 18:22Speaker 1: week of January nine, and of course the week earlier
- 18:26Speaker 1: was revised, but only by five thousand. It's it's not
- 18:28Speaker 1: like we're not seeing what's in the data, or it's
- 18:31Speaker 1: not like yet the data or opaque or anything like that.
- 18:34Speaker 1: We also got continuing claims obviously five point two seven
- 18:37Speaker 1: one million, which is more than we were anticipating as well.
- 18:44Speaker 1: And it's on Wall Street time for Bloomberg Opinion Today
- 18:48Speaker 1: we're joined by at Lisa Martinouzi, Bloomberg Opinion columnists covering finance,
- 18:52Speaker 1: and she has a fascinating column out today talking about
- 18:55Speaker 1: and analyzing the relationship between President Trump, his busin this
- 19:00Speaker 1: is and Deutsche Bank. At Leasta, thanks so much for
- 19:03Speaker 1: joining us here. It seems like we're seeing a lot
- 19:05Speaker 1: of corporations trying to back away and distance themselves from
- 19:09Speaker 1: the president and his companies. That's not going to be
- 19:11Speaker 1: so easy for Deutsche Bank to do, is it. Yes, Now,
- 19:15Speaker 1: that's right, I think. Um. You know, what you have
- 19:17Speaker 1: to consider is that this is an ongoing and very
- 19:19Speaker 1: long standing lending relationship, one that has been going on
- 19:22Speaker 1: for decades um to begin with, but also one that
- 19:26Speaker 1: will linger. Because so we understand that Deutsche Bank has
- 19:29Speaker 1: now committed not to be doing any new business with
- 19:33Speaker 1: Donald Trump nor his companies or his entities, they are
- 19:37Speaker 1: still sitting on loans that Donald Trump owes um ow
- 19:41Speaker 1: s Deutsche Bank, and it's going to be a little
- 19:43Speaker 1: bit tricky to extricate themselves from that relationship for a
- 19:46Speaker 1: number of reasons. First and foremost, um, you know, may
- 19:49Speaker 1: not be easy to find any anyone willing to take
- 19:52Speaker 1: on that debt off them. But even if they did,
- 19:55Speaker 1: this long standing relationship, we know it's going to be
- 19:58Speaker 1: on come under the microscope. We know is going to
- 20:00Speaker 1: be scrutinized. There are several investigations ongoing at various levels
- 20:05Speaker 1: that could well see douortship banks being dragged out. Not
- 20:09Speaker 1: so much because it's been necessarily accute of any wrongdoing,
- 20:12Speaker 1: but certainly their business practices will come under the radar.
- 20:16Speaker 1: There's a bit of a theory out there, and I
- 20:18Speaker 1: don't know how serious it is or if it's just
- 20:20Speaker 1: something that was floated that you know, people of a
- 20:24Speaker 1: democratic leaning bent, let's say, who might run credit jobs
- 20:27Speaker 1: or whatever it might pick this stuff up for a
- 20:29Speaker 1: very cheap and try to get something from Donald Trump. Yes, no,
- 20:35Speaker 1: that that you know could could well happen. But in
- 20:38Speaker 1: terms of where doorship banks relationship goes and where doorship banks, um,
- 20:42Speaker 1: you know, it's history hitherto in its relation with Donald
- 20:45Speaker 1: Trump that will remain potentially under scrutiny. And you know
- 20:50Speaker 1: when it comes to their business practices. Um. You know,
- 20:53Speaker 1: this is a bank that is you know, tried and
- 20:56Speaker 1: recently is very hard to um you know, rebuild. It's
- 20:59Speaker 1: the two improve controls, improved governance. After decades of exponential
- 21:06Speaker 1: growth that basically saw it, you know, taking on greater
- 21:09Speaker 1: and wat to risk and that's resulted in um, you know,
- 21:12Speaker 1: allegations and and you know find for many, many billions
- 21:16Speaker 1: of dollars, and you know, this is just going to
- 21:19Speaker 1: reignite that interest in the businesses of Deutsche Bank and
- 21:23Speaker 1: how it goes about winning winning clients and winning business.
- 21:27Speaker 1: At least, it's gonna be fascinating to see how the
- 21:29Speaker 1: president and his business uh fund themselves going forward, because
- 21:34Speaker 1: up until this point, there was no other money center
- 21:38Speaker 1: UH institution lending money to the Trump corporation that came
- 21:43Speaker 1: down to. Deutsche Bank was the only one. And it
- 21:46Speaker 1: wasn't even the corporate and investment bank at Deutsche Bank.
- 21:48Speaker 1: It was the private bank. And now the private banker
- 21:51Speaker 1: for President Trump has left Deutsche Bank. So it it
- 21:54Speaker 1: really raises the questions how the Trump organization will capitalize
- 21:59Speaker 1: its business going forward. What do we know about that?
- 22:02Speaker 1: I think that's you know, extremely early to speculate on that. Um,
- 22:06Speaker 1: you know, your wife they do you know, dutche Bankers
- 22:08Speaker 1: appeared to be the principal London, but you know, there
- 22:09Speaker 1: may be more that we learn about these finances going forward. UM.
- 22:15Speaker 1: I think it's you know, a little bit too early
- 22:16Speaker 1: to speculate. I mean, clearly, UM, he will be a
- 22:20Speaker 1: you know he is and will remain a polarizing figure. Um.
- 22:23Speaker 1: And and that will affect you know, his dealings and
- 22:26Speaker 1: the dealings of those who have been you know, enabling
- 22:29Speaker 1: him over the years. And of course we also had Signature,
- 22:33Speaker 1: which is a much smaller, a boutique kind of bank,
- 22:36Speaker 1: who might take over from them? Will anybody step up
- 22:39Speaker 1: to the place? As I said, I think I think
- 22:43Speaker 1: it's a little bit early to you know, to speculate
- 22:45Speaker 1: on all this. Um. I think what we do know
- 22:47Speaker 1: is that you know, obviously, um, you know a lot
- 22:49Speaker 1: of businesses, a lot of institutions have been distancing themselves
- 22:52Speaker 1: and vowing not to do business with Trump and his organizations. UM.
- 22:56Speaker 1: From from including the City of New York, the p G,
- 22:59Speaker 1: A and A and its golf tournaments, and that is
- 23:02Speaker 1: you know, undas peopill have repercussions on on his entourage
- 23:07Speaker 1: at least. How concerned is Deutsche Bank do you believe
- 23:10Speaker 1: about its reputation and maybe maybe the business risk it
- 23:14Speaker 1: faces from some of its customers saying we don't want
- 23:17Speaker 1: to do business with you. Are they concerned about or
- 23:19Speaker 1: how concerned are they about this going forward? I think
- 23:23Speaker 1: you know, this could be you know, a moment in
- 23:24Speaker 1: which you know, perhaps there's there's more support in in
- 23:27Speaker 1: in in in what in how Deutsch about me? Try
- 23:30Speaker 1: to um? You know, sever that relationship, UM, certainly more
- 23:34Speaker 1: support than it might have had, you know, you know
- 23:36Speaker 1: before last week. UM, I think what what is certainly
- 23:41Speaker 1: um the cases that you know, they are trying to
- 23:44Speaker 1: maintain the market share in the US. It's not growth
- 23:47Speaker 1: the market share in the US. It's still a very
- 23:49Speaker 1: important business for anyone, for for an investment bank such
- 23:52Speaker 1: as Deutsche Bank. Um, and it is one in which
- 23:56Speaker 1: you know that will draw headlines um which whichever where
- 23:59Speaker 1: you cut it, and you know that's not often not
- 24:02Speaker 1: often good for an about bank. You obviously, you know,
- 24:07Speaker 1: look at all aspects of Deutsche Bank's reputation here and
- 24:10Speaker 1: point out in your column that institutional Shareholder Services rate
- 24:14Speaker 1: Deutsche Bank D minus, which is the lowest score, and
- 24:18Speaker 1: I S S is extraordinarily well respected and also sort
- 24:21Speaker 1: of you know, bound by when it comes to institutional investing.
- 24:25Speaker 1: So how long does it take for you know, a
- 24:27Speaker 1: major major institution like Deutsche Bank to sort of rehabilitate
- 24:31Speaker 1: its reputation. That's a good question. I think, you know,
- 24:35Speaker 1: the focus on on E s G is only increasing
- 24:40Speaker 1: as we speak, and investors are paying more attention to it,
- 24:43Speaker 1: and um, you know it'll there is a long, long
- 24:47Speaker 1: list of situations that Deutsche Bank has been involved in
- 24:51Speaker 1: UM that have led to the school UM. And it
- 24:54Speaker 1: will certainly take time. I mean, this isn't something that
- 24:56Speaker 1: you fix UM in a year or so. This is
- 24:59Speaker 1: you know, this have to They'll have to demonstrate that
- 25:02Speaker 1: their controls and governance has improved UM and then you
- 25:07Speaker 1: know that that you know the type of for me,
- 25:09Speaker 1: it takes you know, years, not months. At Lisa, how
- 25:12Speaker 1: important is the US market to Deutsche Bank. They obviously
- 25:15Speaker 1: have their challenges in their home market of Germany, but
- 25:18Speaker 1: they've really tried for decades to become a major player
- 25:22Speaker 1: here in the US with mixed results. I think you
- 25:26Speaker 1: know they're totally clear, are clearly are but there you know,
- 25:29Speaker 1: they have a scale down strategy now for the investment banks,
- 25:33Speaker 1: they're not offering a broader a sweet of products or
- 25:37Speaker 1: some of the competitors. They're much more focused, especially in
- 25:39Speaker 1: the US. But you know, the America's still a count
- 25:42Speaker 1: for about a third of their investment banking revenue and
- 25:46Speaker 1: there are pockets of business where you know, being big
- 25:48Speaker 1: on Wall Street is absolutely essential. As you take UM I,
- 25:52Speaker 1: p O s and spacks last year, you know, I
- 25:55Speaker 1: p O underwriting revenue was was the biggest among old
- 25:59Speaker 1: regions Deutsche Bank covers, So there are pockets of business
- 26:02Speaker 1: we absolutely have to be in the US and have
- 26:04Speaker 1: to be big. Very briefly, Eliza, how are the banks
- 26:08Speaker 1: in London contending with Briggs and these days? Well, we've
- 26:12Speaker 1: had you know, the most significant shift we've had so
- 26:15Speaker 1: far has been the one in show trading. You've seen
- 26:18Speaker 1: European shares now being almost exclusively traded on the continent,
- 26:23Speaker 1: so away from London. That is a big shift for London.
- 26:26Speaker 1: But we know we're going to be learning more as
- 26:28Speaker 1: the week's progressed, as we see more activity going to
- 26:31Speaker 1: the market. Yeah. Absolutely, and Elsa is all over it always.
- 26:34Speaker 1: Eliza Martin Utti is a Boomberg opinion columnist covering finance,
- 26:39Speaker 1: and her latest is Deutsche Banks Trump links will prove sticky. Obviously,
- 26:44Speaker 1: Deutsche said that it wants to pull back and won't
- 26:47Speaker 1: do any further business with Donald Trump, but of course
- 26:50Speaker 1: it does already have business in the work. Thanks for
- 26:54Speaker 1: listening to the Boomberg Markets podcast. You can subscribe and
- 26:57Speaker 1: listen to interviews at Apple Podcasts or whatever a podcast
- 27:00Speaker 1: platform you prefer. I'm Bonnie Quinn. I'm on Twitter at
- 27:04Speaker 1: Bonnie Quinn. And I'm Paul Sweeney. I'm on Twitter at
- 27:06Speaker 1: pt Sweeney. Before the podcast, you can always catch us
- 27:09Speaker 1: worldwide at Bloomberg Radio