Current Account with Clay Lowery

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by IIF's Managing Director of Digital Finance, Jessica Renier, to discuss developments in artificial intelligence and the implications for the financial sector. Clay and Jessica discuss key takeaways from expert discussions during the recent IMF/World Bank Spring meetings, implementation strategy for A.I. in the financial industry, how the relationship between A.I. and data may alter internal strategy, current and upcoming challenges, how the rapidly-changing field may develop in the future and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay gives an update on the economic state of China. Topics include China's better-than-expected growth to begin 2024, adapting a new growth model and its implications, the economic impact of advancements in the energy industry, international ripple effects of China's monetary decisions, the potential path forward and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by IIF President and CEO Tim Adams to preview the 2024 IMF/World Bank Springs in Washington. Tim and Clay discuss the unique aspects of this iteration of the meetings, key themes and talking points, how crucial industry topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Sustainable Finance and Geopolitics will influence discussion, high-level speakers in Washington and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by IIF's Sonja Gibbs, Managing Director and Head of Sustainability, to discuss recent legislative actions in the New York State Senate around a proposed bill on sovereign debt. Sonja and Clay discuss the contents of the bill, titled the "Sovereign Debt Sustainability Act," the overall impact of the bill should it be passed, industry reaction to the proposition, potential beneficial next steps and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay revisits the banking turmoil of March 2023 and its lessons learned. The episode incudes a breakdown of how the turmoil began, including the incidents involving firms such as SVB and Credit Suisse, what the landscape looks like one year later, what impact these specific situations may have analyzing risk and supervision, future implications of the turmoil and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by IIF's Martin Castellano, Head of Latin America Research, to discuss the present economic state of Mexico and the upcoming Mexican Presidential Elections after recently returning from an investor trip to the country. The discussion includes overall trends in Mexico, explaining the situation around offshoring and its implications, what the outlook for the upcoming elections might be, the role of Mexico in relations between the U.S. and China, and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by IIF's Director of Sustainability Research, Emre Tiftik, to give an update on the current state of global debt. The podcast includes discussion on predominant trends on the current tally of over $310 trillion of global debt, outlook for the debt landscape in 2024, impact of geopolitics on debt, the concept of the United States being "the world's largest emerging market," funding strategy for climate finance, debt restructuring approaches and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by IIF's Ugras Ulku, Head of Emerging Market Europe Research, and Elina Ribakova, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, to give a detailed update of the economic impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on a global level. The discussion includes topics such as detailing Ukraine's necessity of foreign aid, how the Russian economy has responded to the international sanctions regime, what future sanctions may look like, what impacts a continued conflict may have on Ukraine and the global economy, and the unique approach to the Russia's reserve assets.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined again by IIF's Garbis Iradian, Chief Economist, Middle East & North Africa, and Ivan Burgara, Economist, to revisit the economic impact of the conflict in the Middle East. The trio discuss the likelihood and impact of two proposed scenarios: One in which the conflict is contained to the region and one where the conflict escalates beyond the region. Both scenarios are analyzed on a regional and global impact level.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay looks at the economic impact of what a second Donald Trump presidential term may be. Joining Clay is Yuka Hayashi, a journalist specializing on trade and economic security matters with over three decades of experience, including stints at the Dow Jones Newswires and Wall Street Journal. Clay and Yuka discuss what Trump's main priorities are, the feasibility and impact of his highly discussed universal tariff policy, how a Trump return to office may impact trade relations, how personnel selection will influence policy and much more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by David Sacks, Fellow, Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations to talk about the recent elections in Taiwan. The topics include an analysis on the election's proceedings and process, how the election impacts the relationships between the United States and China, the United States and Taiwan, and Taiwan and China, and how the 2024 United States Presidential Election may influence the upcoming term.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay reviews the outlook of 2024 through the lens of geopolitical risk. He breaks down the analysis into three sections - or buckets: The ongoing conflicts across the world, the status of the US-China relationship and the pending worldwide elections. The podcast includes discussion on how these topics will impact the economy in their respective regions and globally.

In the first Current Account episode of 2024, Clay is joined by IIF's Sonja Gibbs, Managing Director, Global Policy Initiatives and Head of Sustainable Finance, to discuss the recent COP28 Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The discussion includes reviewing key topics discussed at the conference, the state of sustainability in the present day, how carbon markets look to develop in the coming year, what the short and long-term future looks like for sustainable finance and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by IIF's President and CEO Tim Adams to recap key events in the financial industry throughout 2023 and projecting areas of focus for 2024. Topics include the development of artificial intelligence technology, industry reactions to turmoil, growth projections, topics in sustainable finance and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay revisits the economic impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The episode includes an analysis of the sanctions regime's impact thus far, examining how Russia has altered its trade strategy and the overall impact on the Russian and Ukranian economies.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by A.B. Stoddard, Columnist at The Bulwark, to discuss the upcoming U.S. Presidential Elections in November 2024. The episode includes analyzing the likely candidates, current President Joe Biden (Democrat) and former President Donald Trump (Republican), how each candidate will likely look to win more voters over, previewing their potential roadblocks, explaining the United States Primary Election process and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by IIF's Garbis Iradian, Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa Region, and Ivan Burgara, Senior Research Analyst, to discuss the economic implications the current conflict in Israel may have. The discussion involves outlining two scenarios: One in which the conflict is contained to within Israel, and one where the conflict expands to a greater regional matter. The analysis includes potential ripple effects in markets of oil, commodities, food and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by Kezia McKeague, the Regional Director for Latin America at McLarty Associates, to discuss the current cycle of elections in Argentina and Latin America. The discussion includes identifying the two Argentine candidates facing off in a run-off election on November 19th, Sergio Massa and Javier Milei, forecasting each candidate's outlook in a hypothetical second round victory, detailing what the potential outcomes may be for an Argentina-US relationship and highlighting other recent and upcoming elections across Latin America. For more information on the Argentine Elections, watch the recent IIF Event on the elections featuring Clay, Kezia and IIF's Head of Latin America Research Martin Castellano.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by IIF's Managing Director of Regulatory Affairs, Andrés Portilla, and Director of Prudential Policy, Richard Gray, to talk about the Basel III Endgame. The discussion centers around describing Basel III, what the "endgame" means, what the next steps are across jurisdictions and more.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay records live from the IIF's Annual Membership Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco. He is accompanied by colleagues to cover a variety of key issues talked about both at the IIF and IMF/World Bank meetings. Martin Boer, Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs, joins to talk about key regulatory issues, Jeremy McDaniels, Deputy Director of Sustainable Finance, talks about a number of topics in the realm of sustainable finance, and Jessica Renier, Managing Director of Digital Finance, covers Data Policy, Digital Payments, Artificial Intelligence and more.