The Next Five

At the start of 2025 there was optimism that the global M&A market would strengthen with the expectation that inflation and interest rates would fall and a more favourable regulatory environment would exist. Yet it was a slow start amid uncertainty. The unpredictability of US trade policy under the Trump administration saw the global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index rise to a 30 year record high in early 2025, decreasing the appetite for deals. But M&A still remains a critical part of a companies growth strategy. So where will the M&A market be at the end of this year and over the next five years? And how can business leaders manage a successful M&A in today's climate and tomorrow's world? Here to discuss this further are Brian Salsberg, Snr Managing Director & Global Head of M&A at FTI Consulting and Massimo Battaini, CEO of Prysmian.Sources: FT Resources, Morrison Foerster, St.Louis Fed, McKinsey, World Uncertainty Index, JP MorganThis content is paid for by Prysmian and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. The views and claims expressed are those of the guests alone and have not been independently verified by The Financial Times.

Capital flows to the entire energy sector are set to hit $3.3tn in 2025. $2.2tn of which will find its way to renewables, nuclear, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency and electrification. That sum is nearly twice as much as the $1.1tn going to fossil fuels this year. The transition opens up new avenues for investment, innovation, and competitiveness. But given the recent geopolitical, economic and trade climate how much will this affect future investments and value creation across the whole energy sector? Joining us today are three experts ready to discuss value creation in the energy transition, where the money is going and where it’s to be made now and in the future. They are Lars Eirik Nicolaisen, Deputy CEO of Rystad Energy, Seb Henbest, Group Head of Climate Transition at HSBC and Christian Egenhofer, Associate Senior Research Fellow at the Energy, Resources and Climate Change Unit at CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies).Sources: FT Resources, IEA, beyondfossilfuels.org, ease-storage.eu This content is paid for by Rystad Energy and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. The views and claims expressed are those of the guests alone and have not been independently verified by The Financial Times.

Modern finance leaders have had to navigate turbulent waters over the last five to 10 years, buffeted by waves of geopolitical and macro market forces, rising economic nationalism, trade protectionism and environmental instability. Add that to the unprecedented pace of technological change, shifting consumer behaviours and a reimagined workforce. Here to give us insight on how CFOs are dealing with today's tough climate while preparing for the future is Kwee Juan Han, Group Executive and Group Head of Institutional Banking at DBS, Marie Myers, CFO at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Andre Khor, Group CFO & Deputy CEO at Aster, part of the Chandra Asri Group.Sources: FT Resources, Deloitte, Forbes, ProtivitiThis content is paid for by DBS and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department.

It is no surprise that for decades the US has reigned supreme when it comes to early stage tech dealmaking. Its risk appetite, coast to coast funding options, integrated market and policy support has created a perfect environment for would-be entrepreneurs to find funding and grow their companies into global tech titans. But, there is no shortage of investable tech firms in the EU. From 2019-2024 the continent generated more high tech startups than the US every year, yet the US had four times more deal value in 2024, $209bn to Europe’s $62bn. Europe can create its own tech giants but to do so it needs to rebalance its venture funding environment to support the next generation of startups. Marie Gwenhaelle Geffroy, Head of Growth Capital & Solutions, Corporate and Institutional Banking at BNP Paribas discusses the strengths of Europe's tech industry and the role that banks play in funding the next generation of talent in Europe. Ben Blume, Partner at Atomico, highlights where European Venture funding is going, what Europe's strengths are and how we can compete with the US. Niklas Radner, Co-Founder & CEO at Nelly, gives insight into launching a tech start up in Germany, and the lessons learnt through his funding rounds.Sources: FT Resources, CEPS, KPMG, Atomico, Dealroom, Houlihan Lokey, Investment CouncilThis content is paid for by BNP Paribas and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department.

The term polycrisis has been gaining traction in recent times as the world faces one disaster after another that are all interlinked. The far-reaching implications of a world at risk means boardrooms must remain agile to navigate their businesses past the rocks and into calmer seas. In a break away from our normal format, we've created our own boardroom. Sat around our virtual table today are three experts ready to discuss what risks are out there, how boards are dealing with them and what the boardroom dynamic needs to be to navigate a fast evolving and uncertain future. They are Sean McGovern, UK & Lloyd’s CEO at AXA XL, Pam Joshi, Global Head of Insurance and Risk Management at Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Sarah Isted, UK Risk Leader at PwC UK.Sources: FT Resources, IRM, GARP, ICAEWThis content is paid for by AXA XL and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department.

In today's digital world, artificial intelligence, data storage and cybersecurity are a critical triumvirate, intersecting to form a dynamic ecosystem that underpins modern technological infrastructure. They are strategic pillars that drive innovation, operational efficiency and risk management. Thus their interaction and integration is key to building resilient and secure digital systems capable of supporting the demands of our digitally dependent future. In this episode Charlie Giancarlo, CEO, Pure Storage discusses how important it is for an organisation where your data is, and how to correctly, safely and securely store it ready for our AI future. Nicole Carignan, SVP of Security and AI Strategy at Darktrace and Anthony Ferrante, Global Head of Cybersecurity at FTI Consulting, further extol why data is the backbone of AI, the importance of securing your data, as well as the vulnerabilites organisations face in a modern digitial world.Sources: FT Resources, WEF, PWC, Allianz, National Cyber Security Centre, McKinsey, UK GovThis content is paid for by Pure Storage and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department.

Biotechnology is the use of biology in the production of new products, services, and organisms with the aim of improving human health and society. In 2024, the global biotech market was worth $1.68 trillion. By application, the health segment was responsible for just over half of that figure. Not surprising when you think that healthcare focused biotech companies are battling to solve some of our biggest health concerns; turning an ageing society into a longevity society by supporting longer and healthier lives. In this episode of The Next Five, Paul Little, CEO of Vesper Bio discusses frontotemporal dementia and the impact of it on human health and society, the biotech solutions being sort to combat the disease as well as what he describes as a Malthusian crisis around biotech funding. Dr Ann Beliën, Founder and CEO of Rejuvenate Biomed addresses the problems of Sarcopenia as well as the biotech solutions for it and how Biotech companies use creative ways to secure funding. Gianmario Verona, President of Human Technopole, highlights the importance of industry collaboration and how innovation centres can help propel the biotech sector forward. Sources: FT Resources, WHO, JP Morgan, Alzheimersresearchuk, IQVIA This content is paid for by Yes Milano and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department.

Despite an interconnected and increasingly digitalised world, a historical black cloud has been hanging over an area of finance relied upon by institutions, retail and a billion people associated with migrant work: Cross-border payments.Domestic money transfer has seen a dramatic overhaul due to the digital revolution of recent years. But sending money internationally is a whole different ball game. Each country operates their own payment systems at varying levels of technological maturity and regulation. Due to this, historically, sending money has been both time consuming and costly, whether that is B2B, B2C or C2C.There has been improvements over the last few years, yet the industry still has some work to do. In this episode of The Next Five, Pratik Khowala, Global Head of Transfer Solutions at Mastercard discusses how scale and collaboration can solve some of the key challenges. Emanuela Saccarola, Head of Cross-Border Payments at Citi delves into the B2B landscape, echoes the need for industry collaboration and discusses the increasingly relevant role of digital assets. Josh Gordon-Blake, EVP and GM, MGO at MoneyGram highlights the importance of remittances to the global economy and what an overhaul of the payments system can do for millions of people. Sources: FT resources, Deloitte, IFAD, World Bank, Mastercard, Deutsche Bank, ECB, FSB, The Payments Association.This content is paid for by Mastercard and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department.

In today’s competitive global landscape the responsibilities of CFOs are diversifying more than ever. The fast paced digital revolution, geopolitical uncertainty, economic volatility and the environmental impact of climate change means the modern CFO must adapt to future proof the financial health of their organisations. The need to remain agile and requires fleet of foot finance leaders. In the modern world, technology is helping CFOs to gain visibility over their business functions and react to an ever evolving global landscape. In this Episode of The Next Five, Anna Manz, CFO of Nestlé explains the need to keep pace with consumer change, how technology can help with forecasting, but that a team's ability to adpat to change is vital. Chris Thorn, UK CFO at Suez discusses the unique pressures and opportunities of private and public partnerships, how to react and work with regulation and legislation changes and the role tech also plays for CFOs. Salvatore Lombardo, CPTO at Coupa explains how technologies such as AI can be a welcome tool in the CFOs arsenal, if used correctly. Sources: FT resources, PWC.This content is paid for by Coupa and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department.