Upfront

What will make financial services a sector where people want to work and stay?
 
The lack of diversity in financial services is putting people off joining the industry - brilliant people who could be bringing much-needed skills, new ideas and different perspectives to the sector.
 
In this episode, Olga is joined by renowned financial adviser and TV personality Emmanuel Asuquo. He talks about his experience joining the ...

Who will take one for the team for a better, fairer financial system?

Financial services and technology are moving fast. But stop. We need to pause and ask ourselves what we’re really doing, and who for, otherwise we risk not making progress at all.

In this episode, Olga is joined by Adah Parris, a creative provocateur who helps people see the world differently. She wants financial institutions to get out of their echo chambers, ...

What is the future of work?

It’s the question everyone wants the answer to. Has anyone got it right yet? The jury’s out. One thing’s for sure, we all want to work smarter, not longer. 

In this episode, Olga is joined by Charlotte Lockhart, co-founder of 4 Day Week Global. She talks about why a focus on productivity, not time, can help us all be happier, healthier and more successful. Anne-Marie Lister, Chief People Officer at Ato...

Can responsible investing change the world?

It’s going to take $2.5 trillion to solve the world’s societal and environmental problems. Financial services have the means to help, but first, the industry must ask itself some big and difficult questions.
 
One man who’s not afraid to ask those questions is James Perry, an entrepreneur and founder of ethical investment company Snowball. He talks to Olga Koch about ripping up the...

Do financial services need to lighten up?
 
Everyone loves a deal, and this time, you’re getting two for one as Olga is joined by fellow stand-up comedian and consumer champion Vix Leyton.
 
In this episode, Olga and Vix find the funny in everything from car insurance to student bank accounts and badly-advised store cards. They share their experiences of playing fast and loose with pensions, impressing financial adviser...

How can financial services fight AI-based cybercrime?

Deep fakes and voice cloning are being used in increasingly sophisticated and nefarious ways, raising questions about what’s real and who we can trust.

In this episode, comedian Olga Koch is joined by Skeeve Stevens, ex-hacker and founder of The Future Crime Agency. He talks about new cybersecurity threats, old spy techniques, fighting fire with fire, and what terrifies and ex...

How do we stop imposter syndrome getting in the way of success?

70% of people get imposter syndrome and it also negatively impacts organisations, particularly in high-performance cultures like financial services.

In this episode, comedian Olga Koch is joined by confidence coach, Alison Shamir. She talks about why imposter syndrome must be tackled and shares three steps to defeat it plus some advice every employer needs to hear.

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How do we get more people to understand the importance of financial planning?

Making a financial decision is scientifically proven to be one of the hardest things for a human to do. We just can’t get our heads round it, so we bury them in the sand instead.

In this episode, comedian Olga Koch is joined by one of the UK’s leading behavioural economists, Mark Pittaccio (Quilter). He talks about why good people make bad decisions and...

What would Don Draper do to promote financial advice?

Not enough people seek financial advice. Most think it’s only for the wealthy and don’t fully understand all the services a financial adviser can provide.

Sounds to us like a classic marketing problem.

In this episode, comedian Olga Koch is joined by Kevin Chesters, a creative strategist who’s worked at some of the most famous and feared advertising agencies. He has some stra...

Listen up, punks! The award-winning, hard-hitting financial services podcast from Iress is back.

Comedian Olga Koch returns to ask the questions that nobody else is asking in a series of bold and frank conversations that everyone in financial services needs to hear.

Could we close the advice gap by thinking more creatively? Can Homer Simpson get more people interested in financial planning? What would an ex-hacker do to fight ris...

What if your grocery store became your bank? Or your retirement fund merged with your favourite clothing retailer? These are the sort of non-obvious questions financial services businesses need to be asking if they want to be part of the future. But with so much innovation and change going on, we’ve got a big question too:

How can financial services keep up in a faster world?

So buckle-up buttercup as we take you on a journey to ...

For a lot of financial services businesses, data got no game. Meanwhile, other industries have found ways to turn data collection and analysis into a serious competitive advantage. Out on the sports field, performance analytics are enabling athletes and coaches to reach peak performance, helping teams win and getting fans closer to the action. In this episode, comedian Olga Koch takes one for the team by asking:

Can data get finan...

It’s estimated that globally, almost a third of the adult population lacks access to financial services. That’s a lot of people missing out on all the good the industry can do. And it could be doing so much good - better access to financial services would help more people out of poverty, improve health and wellbeing, education and help address gender equality. Fintech is helping make financial services more affordable and easier to...

Being a successful financial services business takes almost superhuman powers. You need the super speed of Flash to innovate and get products and services to market faster. Hulk’s exponential strength to handle the regulation that’s thrown at you. The elastic resilience of Mister Fantastic in the face of constant disruption and change. And the agility of Spider-Man to exceed consumer expectations. Not to mention an Alfred or Q by y...

The under-25s are fuelling disruption in financial services and flipping the switch on how things get done. An emerging battleground for growth, Zoomers will soon make up 40% of the population and could become the wealthiest generation yet. 

But how can the financial services industry, more familiar with dealing with Gen-Z’s parents and grandparents, connect with this digitally native, social-media-obsessed generation? 

Are finan...

Clients. Markets. Products. Regulation. Technology. More regulation. Arrrrgh! Financial services businesses sure do have a lot to keep up with. Is stepping back and hitting reset ever an option? Look at successful startups - they’re usually led by people who’ve had a chance to step back, stop, rethink and then make a move. That’s tricky to do in an established business where long-term thinking can give way to pressures that come fr...

It’s a fact that people would rather talk about sex, politics or their mental health than money. Could this be why 24 million UK adults don’t feel confident managing their money, or why 85% of Australians don’t have a financial plan? Research shows that if we talked more about our finances, we’d all make better decisions, feel less stressed and more in control. Our kids would also be more likely to form good lifetime money habits. ...

Can the customer experience offered by financial services ever rival that of our favourite apps and services or will innovation always be limited by rules and regulation? Or, in other words:

Does the financial services experience suck?

That's the upfront question for product design experts Josh Guest, CEO at digital design consultancy Transpire, and Amir Ansari, head of product design at financial technology company Iress. In thi...

No one should have to use a dictionary to decode investment advice or need a PhD to understand a pension or super statement. So why is the language of financial services still such a mystery?

Upfront asks: How can we make financial services more accessible to everyone?

Julia Newbold, former editor of Money Magazine Australia, and Charlie Corbett, director at the Plain Speaking Institute UK, give us their no-bullsh*t views on...