♪ haslinda: coming up on "bloomberg best," the week in conversation from the world economic forum in davos. leaders in business, economics, politics, and finance share their insight and outlook on critical global issues. >> you have markets at record highs, and as we know, these things do not go in a straight line. >> it feels stupid to own cash in this kind of environment. >> i think that is one of the bigger crimes that we do not talk about. haslinda: from heads of companies to heads of state, high-profile guests address topics of high importance. >> it is important for the

future of the city of london. >> we have to face our social and environmental challenges. >> the lives are being saved for very small amounts of money. >> the last thing the world needs is a currency war. haslinda: it is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ haslinda: hello, i am haslinda amin. from the world economic forum in davos, switzerland, welcome to a special edition of "bloomberg best." we have met with the most influential people in the world, discussing what they think are the most important topics and the most urgent challenges facing business and society. and of course we have also been , keeping our eye on the stories shaping business around the world. starting monday when legislators agreed to reopen the u.s. government. >> senators, duly chosen and

sworn, having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. reporter: the senate moving to end the u.s. government shutdown after three days with a temporary spending bill funding the government through february 8. yousef: president trump has signed a bill to end the government shutdown which leaves the dreamers fate still unresolved for another three weeks. >> there are a lot of good people in congress, but the business model is broken. if you spend your time blaming the other side and bipartisanship is a dirty word and it gets you hurt in your primary, then we are doomed as a country. >> president trump has long talked tough on trade. and now, it looks like he may be taking some action with a decision, putting tariffs on solar panels and washing machines. >> obama had solar power not tariffs. this is not a new thing.

it is not a new thing. i thought it was wrong when obama did it and i think it is wrong when trump does it. it is bad for the american economy, bad for the global environment bad for jobs in the , united states. >> does the president's decision to slap a tariff on solar imports change anything for you? >> for us, it is not going to change our approach. we generally agree with free trade. it will not change our direction on developing solar projects. reporter: were you planning on making investments in the united states that you might reconsider? guest: we still have plans in the united states. what we bought into in december was about 40%, in the united kingdom. that was the largest solar developer in europe. it has projects in the middle east and india. that is the focus of that company. i do not know how exactly this will change our direction. not much. >> steve mnuchin is endorsing a

the dollar's decline. he says, "a weaker dollar is good for us as it relates to trade and opportunities." >> he said a weak u.s. dollar is good for america. do you agree? guest: i think it all depends why. when you think about the dollar today, it has weakened and it has baffled some people. there are two likely scenarios out there. one is what we talked about at outset in terms of the surprisingly stronger europe, the stronger rest of the world , has now moved central banks into a position where they can start to normalize and raise rates. just like we saw in the u.s. in 2014, a pretty robust move in the dollar as the fed started that. we can say it's a bit of a correction. if that is what it is about, n adjustment, if that is what it is about, that is fine. the other side of the potential

argument is that there is fear and it is a precursor to a protectionism and potential trade wars and causing people to shy away from the dollar. if that is what is causing the dollar underperformance, it is more concerning. >> the ecb holds steady. mario draghi seeing very little chance of a rate hike this year. german bond investors see no reason to sell. sending the 10-year bund level to its highest level since 2015. francine: how can you be so sure that inflation will come to europe? guest: because we see it in the last two years. if you remember two years ago, we had still a danger of deflation. it is now over. the first success of our monetary policy, and it was a message that we expressed yesterday, a message of confidence and patience. confidence, because we are confident that in the path of gradual normalization of our monetary policy, this gradual normalization is progressing in

an efficient way toward our inflation target of 2%. but patience, because we are not yet there. >> a tumultuous week for the dollar. on wednesday, secretary mnuchin said a weaker dollar is good for us as it relates to trade in opportunities. currency's short-term value is not of concern at all. in an interview yesterday, president trump said that mnuchin may have been misunderstood. as he put it, our country is becoming strong and the dollar is going to get stronger and stronger and ultimately, i want to see a strong dollar. francine: there has been so much talk about whether we are entering a phase of currency wars. if we are, how much will that complicate things? how much does that complicate the work of central banks? guest: it is the last thing that the global economy needs today.

we live in a world where interest rates should not be targeted for competitive purposes. that's what the g7 and g20 have agreed. let us stick to that. we have seen lots of volatility being created lately with different statements. i think that has not helped at all. president trump: i am here to deliver a simple message. there has never in a better time to hire, build, invest and grow in the united states. america is open for business, and we are competitive once again. >> he sold america first as america for everyone, and did a very good job i think, of speaking to his audience. he almost appeared to be a globalist in some ways. president trump: we are also working to reform the international trading system so that it promotes broadly-shared prosperity and rewards to those who play by the rules. >> i think the people there and

people around donald trump will think it was a great decision to go to davos, and i think they will be invited back next year. haslinda: still ahead, uber's new c.e.o. discusses the company's cultural turnaround. >> there are no excuses for not doing the right thing. haslinda: up next, the biggest names in finance tell us how they see the global economy, up -- economy. >> we have seen the numbers up with growth, but trade even higher. haslinda: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ haslinda: from the world economic forum in davos, switzerland, this is "bloomberg best." i am haslinda amin. it's an annual ritual, getting a read on the global economic climate from the world's financial leaders.

what are they excited about and what worries them? let's start with imf managing director, christine lagarde. christine: we upgraded our forecast for 2018 and 2019. what is characteristic of that upgrade is that it is significant. 3.9% in 2018 and 2019. second, it covers a wide range of countries, not just of the emerging markets leading the charge, not just the advanced economies. it's pretty much across the board, but for some countries which are not seeing a capital -- on a capital basis income , growing, that is primarily the sub-saharan african countries. when you look at japan, the u.s., turkey, some of the big emerging market economies, we have upgraded pretty much across our range of countries. the one that did not get an upgrade is the one the united kingdom. we left it where it was.

francine: if we see more protectionism, does it hurt the forecast, going forward? christine: what we see is growth going up but trade even higher than growth. trade is a significant engine of growth, of reducing inequality between countries, as we had ve seen. clearly, trade is has to be fair and in accordance with the rules and be reciprocated. the tools need to had by the trade players to make sure this is the case. i think that is the area where everybody will rally around some of the themes of president trump. it is not an issue of being protectionist, because protectionist measures generally do not help trade or growth. but looking at the rules, resetting some of the rules eventually, in view have what is happened in the last 10 years, whether it is through automation or financing, all of that needs to be looked at on a regular basis.

jamie: it does look that the immediate future is pretty good. i don't see the potholes that will reverse it. geopolitics aside there's , nothing like the leverage of the system in 2006 and 2007. we had a lot of subprime mortgages. that is not true. households were overleveraged. that is not true. hedge funds were much more leveraged than we are today. remember that unwound very , quickly in 2008 and reporter: 2009. in some respects, it anticipates my next question. is there any reason to believe that this part of the cycle, 2018-2019, are going to be the next 2006, 2007? the euphoria before the crash? jamie: i do not think so. you need that excessive leverage to have what happened

in we are going to have a 2008-2009. recession one day, and when that happens, stock prices will go down. hopefully, it will be a more normal thing. not that i am wishing for it, but it will happen. >> at this point, i am less worried about monetary policy and the realignment for a more natural stance, which is starting in the u.s. and europe and eventually will move to japan. markets are very exuberant now. we have markets at record highs, and we know that these things do not go in a straight line. >> you run the biggest equity shop on wall street. do you think that the prices are overbought, that prices are very high? imagine that i was one of your clients. >> i think that markets are expensive but they are not ridiculous. there are some sectors and if you look at some of the so-called fang stocks they are , trading at very high multiples

but they have extraordinary , growth. the way that you value equities is by looking at the net present value of your future earnings and you apply whatever market model there is today. future earnings are growing and at the same multiple, you will see the s&p reaching highs. francine: because of volatility levels in the market, it has been a tough year in general for investment banks. is 2018 expected to be better? to my comment on taxes. i think it was a huge positive for the u.s. economy and the world economy. if the u.s. economy is doing well, it is important. there will be a lot of investment in the u.s. economy. keep that in mind when you think about protectionism. if the u.s. policymakers want more investment to come in, they will have to be pragmatic.

let's just say that. it makes me optimistic. since the beginning of the year, we have had a rare combination of equity markets going up, volatility going up. no one likes it when markets collapse. this is a very good conjunction of markets going up and volatility increasing a little bit. the year has started very well. but you cannot draw too many conclusions from early trading days. reporter: you've had a few weeks now to evaluate the tax bill. this is where i am going to start. how it affects your business, how it affects the competitive environment. what conclusions have you drawn? guest: relative to the place of american business in the world, our competitiveness has improved. i think we have caught up to the rest of the world, and i think it was an appropriate thing to do to make american businesses competitive with other businesses of other developed markets. reporter: does it change the competitive environment for your

industry? guest: our industry was a relatively high tax-paying industry, and now we have converged with other countries. they did a good job of widening out the base and removing deductions, and having a common rate for everybody. they have equalized the consequences of keeping money overseas versus bringing it home. i think it has made the system more sensible. so to that extent, we like operating in the sensible system. francine: do you believe the u.k. regulators are looking at the u.s. and ready to relax the rules themselves? after all, brexit is happening. guest: post the financial crisis , i think there was a consensus around the major economies of the world that we needed to reregulate the financial markets and do it in a way that ity broadly

speaking across those markets. so that no institution could arbitrage one regulator against another. i think a lot of good was done and i think a lot of important new regulation was brought into the financial system over the last 10 years, and we consistently or i consistently supported a more regulatory environment. but now, there is a new equation to it. it does seem as if the u.s. is willing to be very much on the front foot in terms of making the u.s. market competitive. the barclays business strategy is a transatlantic bank, so 40% of our revenue is generated in the united states. the u.s. has become one of the lowest tax regions that we operate in. that is a new phenomenon we have to recognize. reporter: there is a lot of cash on the sidelines. investors have cash on the sidelines, banks, consumers, and they can feel that they are being left out. it feels stupid to own cash in this environment. i think it will be great for

earnings and great for the stimulation of growth. we have to look beyond that to say, what is monetary policy going to be? how difficult is monetary policy? now, let's take a look at that. we could look at step one, the blowup stage of everything. reporter: before we get to monetary policy, how long do you think we are going to enjoy this perfect environment? when i say we, i do not mean just the financial community. clearly it is good for risk assets. if earnings are great, presumably that is good for stock prices. but companies are raising wages, doing hiring and investing. some of it is trickling down to the real economy. how long will people be able to enjoy that? guest: if you look at it, it will be a 12 to 18 month growth

spurt, and then when that is happening, the central bank will not have to tighten monetary policy. >> here we are, financial markets are up three times since the financial crisis. three times. the pool of money sitting in cash worldwide has never been greater. it is a problem. it is a problem in china where it is 45% of disposable incomes sitting in a bank account. if you speak to the french financial minister, 72% of all french savings are in a bank account. reporter: no interest. guest: can you imagine the type of inclusion we would have worldwide, if we had better financial literacy, more investing over the long run? the type of financial gains that people would have in their 401(k)? i think that is one of the bigger crimes that we do not talk about. and that is one of the reasons

why i believe we have more momentum because of the pool of money that is sitting around. >> there could be an alliance between authoritarian states and these large data-rich i.t. monopolies that would bring together a nascent system of corporate surveillance within already developed systems of state-sponsored surveillance. they may even result in a web of totalitarian control. the likes of which not even aldous huxley or george orwell could have imagined. the countries in which such unholy marriages are likely to occur, first, are in russia and china. the chinese i.t. companies in

particular are fully equal to the american ones. they also enjoy the full support and protection of the president -- of the xi jinping regime. the government of china is strong enough to protect its national champions at least within its borders. ♪

♪ haslinda: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i'm haslinda amin at the world economic forum in davos. uber has been under a global microscope, one of the world's most valuable startups has been mired in controversy as well as

burning cash. the new c.e.o. has set his sights on changing the culture and steering the company towards profitability. he discussed his goals with bloomberg editor in chief john micklethwait. >> i think you lost $4 billion last year. dara: profits will help. at some point, we have to become profitable. that is part of the plan. >> do you have a goal to be profitable by 2022? guest: i think we will be profitable by 2022. >> would you like to go down a bit maybe 2020? guest: i do not want to name a specific year, but this is a business that the core business, the ridesharing business can be profitable within three years. we will continue to make very

aggressive investments in building out autonomy. we think that is a terrific opportunity, building out new technologies such as uber elevate, where near-term profitability is not a goal, but long-term growth is. we will look to balance near-term profitability. but as a company, we will always company that makes big bets and takes risks. >> what about this culture change, you talked about making money, but not at all costs. do those two things? guest: i do not think profitability and culture are the issue. the company in the past was willing to make trade-offs as it related to how we did business. and i think was guilty of hubris. guilty of thinking that the knew

-- that they knew better than others, and i think what we know now clearly is that breakneck growth can hide cultural issues. that there are no excuses for not doing the right thing. as a management team, we are specifically talking about the trade-offs that you have to make . we have to be more patient sometimes, because working with government regulators sometimes takes longer. but in the end, you build a more lasting business. haslinda: coming up on "bloomberg best," much more from the world economic forum in davos. leaders in government speak frankly about the most pressing challenges. >> with brexit, we would lose the most important voice in terms of the liberal economy. haslinda: and bill gates shares his perspective on the role of the u.s. in addressing mobile -- addressing global problems. bill: i am in there saying, come

on, let's keep up the good work. haslinda: this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ haslinda: you are watching "bloomberg best." they review of the week in conversation at the world economic forum. i'm haslinda amin. political leaders gathered here in davos this week to deliver economic messages to the world's business elite. and many of them spoke one-on-one with bloomberg television. let's start with u.k. prime minister theresa may, who sat down for an exclusive conversation with john mickelthwait. john: obviously, the news is brexit. we can -- president macron effectively said, yes he can , imagine a deal where financial services could be somehow elongated. only if you went back on things like of course the human justice and things like that.

your red lines. would you be prepared to trade at all on that in order to get more access to business, especially finance, which by some measures is the biggest industry we have? prime minister may: the city of london is hugely important in the u.k. it is also important to the global financial center for the european union and indeed around the rest of the world too. i am positive about the future for the city of london. i think we have -- london is an attractive place. the city has developed over a number of years. people sometimes use the word ecosystem of support around the financial services industry in the united kingdom. john: would you be prepared to trade to keep that access, would you be prepared to do what israw -- macron said which withdraw from some of the red lines, in order to get more access? prime minister may: what i working for, and obviously in december, we reached a successful negotiation on the first phase of our brexit talks with the e.u. -- what i am now

working for is looking at the implementation period. timeis that period of which will enable businesses to adjust to our new relationship after we have left the european union. but i'm clear that we want to develop a deep and special partnership, a comprehensive free trade agreement. obviously we recognize the importance of financial services. and we want to ensure that we can continue to see those financial services, ensuring the city of london retains its role as a global financial center. in the last few weeks i have been talking to financial services in the u.k. and the e.u. as i have done previously. , they are positive about the advantages the u.k. has. i want to build on those to make the u.k. even more of an attractive place for financial services to be. francine: what would you ask in return for access to financial services? >> i would like to see the united kingdom remain in the single market and the customs union. they have said they do not want to do that, and i respect that. perhaps we can negotiate something that is not very

different to that. francine: what kind of agreement do you think we will get? is it a norway or a canada plus? leo it is difficult to : speculate. i think it will be a new agreement between the united kingdom and the e.u., so it is difficult to compare it to norway which is a relatively small country. i think it will be a specific agreement for the united kingdom. as ireland, we want that to be as close as possible. so we would have a norway plus, but i think we need to get into the detail now as to what that means. it has been quite sometime since this referendum happened. we need to get down and dirty with the details. ♪ francine: if you were to give me two priorities for the au and 2018 what would they be? , guest: how to deal with brexit. with the u.k. leaving, we will lose the most important voice in terms of the liberal economy. free trade agreements.

completing the internal market. i have always found theresa may and david cameron were fighting with me and others to do that. the netherlands will now be the biggest country. we are four times smaller than the u.k. in our size of the economy, but we are the biggest one in terms of completely supporting the agendas. we are now working with other countries in the e.u. to maintain that voice of liberalism. it's crucial. because it has an impact on the u.k. for them leaving their , economy. they are now the slowest growing economy in the g7. it will also be an impact on the e.u. secondly, how do we maintain the necessity of reforms within the e.u. of the 27 and the eurozone? my worry is, with low interest rates at the moment there is not , enough incentive to do that. then we get talk about all sorts of new structures. but the most important thing now is that everybody is doing what they, as a country, need to do in terms of fiscal sides, the stimulus in terms of making sure that their economy gets back on

a growth course. >> how worried should people be, businesspeople be about that? , are they someone who could take it out of the e.u.? risk out ofhat the the eurozone, not only for italy, we should be very cautious to disrupt and derail the mechanism. that in the last years, it brought us almost in all relevant economic areas of the world, to a dynamic of growth. so the issue in italy is we are on the right track. we have to continue in fiscal responsibility, and gradual decreasing of our public debt, and we have to face our social and environmental challenges.

the real mission and commitment of the government now is to try to continue to have the confidence of the voters and to continue this reform process also after the elections. because if we stop the process, what the results we reached in the last years, and we reached them with the sacrifices of the community, the workers, the enterprises, these results would be at risk. so it is a national interest to go on with this right track. ♪ francine: talk to me about what would make you change your mind about euro membership? >> euro membership. is europe is part of the solution or part of the problem? this is the question i need to get answered. because i'm not so sure the euro is over with their issues.

i myself was 20 years ago an expert if i may say so in optimum currency areas. reporter: i remember. i interviewed you. i remember. >> good memory. peter cannon and so on, and the optimum idea between two different geographies is actually extremely important to areas to get together in the format of one currency. we are not yet there in terms of convergence between poland and the rest of the eurozone. francine: which is fair. what would need to happen for there to be convergence and therefore for you backing poland adopting the euro? guest: many more years of strong economy growth. disposable income average disposable income in poland on , the level of 80% to 90% of the richest nations, like the dutch like the germans, and so on.

also the convergence between the structure of the economy, like in different sectors, and maybe one very last element. where poland is pushing toward more unity, is freedom to provide services. >> because so much of our national economy is that they who should be -- reporter: they want to be overexposed. >> not want to be overexposed for this. reporter: do you agree? >> we believe we are decreasing in oil activity. in norway, we are looking at more areas and others. the long-term policy of norway, and the long-term prospect is of course that we will not get the same type of income from oil sector as we used to have. so maybe it is -- we haven't decided yet. i can't say we agree or not before we have done all of the

scrutiny work. francine: oil is at $70 a barrel. is there a danger that that makes norway more complacent about sticking with oil? >> i don't think so. because we have been through a shock on the economy on the oil part. that used to be $140 per barrel. we have had a very slimming of the total supply sector, but also the oil companies in norway. we do see that we get some more of the marginal projects done, basically because of cost cuts. not because of opec. they are building long-term oil prices. and i don't think we will get the same type of complacency as we have had for some years because so much of our agenda is directed towards trying to get the benefits of what the norwegian economy has been better than last years. like for example, tourism. this year we have nice places in , norway if you want to go skiing. francine: how worried are you about the rating agencies cutting your debt again?

guest: i am much more confident that we now have a better story to put before the rating agencies. and many of us will be actively involved in having a dialogue with them. some of the things we are worried about, we are putting right now. we are correcting issues of political instability. we have become more stable now, we are correcting issues of regulatory uncertainty. we are attending to that. we are also addressing issues of where growth of our economy will come from. and we are also addressing issues of state owned enterprise reform process. and i think we now have a much more positive story to put to them. it is not like last year, or a year ago, when we were all over.

now, we have a clear path to the future -- a better future of south africa. and we have got a game plan. we now know where we are going. and we are ridding our country of all the bad things that have been holding us back. ♪

♪ haslinda: this is "bloomberg best." i'm haslinda amin. we continue looking back at our top interviews here at the world economic forum in davos. from big picture issues such as gender equality and finance, to specific topics like china's belt and road infrastructure program our conversations , covered a lot of territory. one timely story we delved into was the progress of negotiations on the north american free trade agreement. economy behaved

much better than expected in 2018. the growth rate was higher than expected, around, over 2%. well,have to tell you as we have still not done -- we think we can find security -- solutions for this negotiation. so you are sounding a note of optimism? mr. guajardo: i always say i am not an optimist. i am a positivist. which i believe working on something, you can get it done. a negotiator cannot be an optimist. never. francine: if you look at negotiations, what is the percentage of actually nafta gets ripped apart or it is renegotiated to a point that president trump says, yes, sure, we are still in? guest: our plan a is we will improve nafta. i think the way we get to that as being the outcome that should

be the expected outcome is we say you know, nafta provides 9 , million jobs in the united states. it has obviously been very positive for mexico. it's positive in canada. our supply chains are interrelated. so the current agreement is working. i think we all recognize is it was done 24 years ago. there are places we can improve. francine: mr. mnuchin yesterday in davos saying a weak u.s. dollar is good for the u.s. economy. are you worried that we are seeing currency wars resurge? >> well i hope not. , he is obviously right that the softness of the dollar is helping u.s. exports, u.s. manufacturers reassert their position. and to the extent that helps to answer some of the questions in the u.s. about the global trading system, make americans feel the system is fairer to them and ease some of the pressure around the trade system, i think that is a good thing for all of us. francine: the pound has been

appreciating quite a lot. therefore would a weaker pound help u.k. exports? chancellor hammond the u.k. is a : very open economy. a weaker pound has two effects, it helps our exports but raises the costs of our imports. one of the challenges we have had over the last year or so is -- has been a weaker pound has led to higher inflation and a -- and stagnant real wages. that is driving some of the challenges that we face at home. getting that inflation rate down and a rising pound will help to do that. it helps to drive increases in real wages. and that is good for our economy and good for our society. haslinda: you have committed something like $20 billion in china's growth. why has china become such a strategic market for you? loney: -- gentiloni: we have committed to facilitate financing for the one belt, one

road of about $20 billion from here up to 2020. the one belt, one road, i believe, is a formidable initiative coming from china. in this time we are talking about threats to globalization. it is good to see things that are happening in the east, the commitment to have the transpacific alliance on trade delivered in a few months. the one belt, one road. so a lot of good things are coming from china. the one belt one road may be the single most important positive driver for globalization in this century, if well executed. and done in line with good governance. ♪ reporter: the imf says brazil's economy is going to grow 1.9%. the government says it is going to go 3%. are you more bullish than that? guest: i think 3% is a good number. i think that this number is being revised up by very good number of analysts including the analyst of the finance industry. reporter: what about the analyst

in the chair sitting across from me? guest: the economy is getting better and better and better. actually, the numbers increase by the second half of last year on because the market was stronger. the economy was giving signals that it would perform better. and i think now 3% is a solid number. haslinda: any chance of the boj tapering this year? guest: i am a bit cautious. because the, as you know, we are going to have the presidential vp at the end of september. also, the administration has to increase the consumption tax by october of next year. which means we would like to keep the stimulation of the japanese economy, which means that he wants to have this level

of monetary easing policy. it depends on the bank of japan. but bank of japan and the government is now appropriately communicating quite closely. so having said that, it will easing level of monetary will last for a couple of years. haslinda: we saw demonetization take place. we saw prime minister modi implement gsp. those came at a cost of growth. what does he need to do right to get to 10%? guest: you have to look at the things he did as perhaps laying the ground for dramatic growth. this is his view, and to be honest, it is a view widely shared. a lot of people's at the fact that it slowed down the economy. how about that old adage of taking one step back for two steps forward or even a leap

forward? what he realized was to get the resources we need for reform and high growth, you need more people paying taxes. you need more people coming into the tax net. a miserable fraction of people pay income taxes. and even a of commerce escapes the tax net. so what he was doing was number one demonetization more , than technical exercise, he was signaling we need a clean way of life. we need to move you people into the organized economy. pay your taxes, and we will grow. and the second one, even the goods and services tax in fact brings a large number of smaller businesses into the tax net. india's economy is enormous when you count the unorganized sector. if they can tap into those resources, you will get the money required to invest for the kind of growth you are talking about. reporter: can you actually, within the whole industry, make money in bonds, or are the yields not enough? guest: it is a challenge. it's a real challenge. the key is flexibility. so the --

tom what does that mean? : that is ceo talk if i have ever heard. [laughter] >> i mean when you have a bond fund, all it can do is make treasury. goyou have another, it can long, short. it has the flexibility to move by geography, by currency. if it has all of those tools, it has got multiple levers to add value. and you can see that coming through. the bond funds which make money in this environment are the ones that have the flexibility to really take advantage. >> i would go into emerging market bonds. there is india's 10 year bond yielding 7.5%. ok it is still local currency. but modi is here, and india is booming. now the chinese market is just about to open up. so there is real opportunity. reporter: you are a leader among women in the american banking industry. what needs to be done for there to be more people like you? and finally, a woman running a large american financial institution.

guest: the more women in senior management, the more likelihood that we are going to get somebody to be the ceo. you have to have succession planning that includes women. i do think we have had a lot of change. so brian put in place when he became ceo, brian moynihan, he put in place a management team, 40% of our executive management team are women. 30% of the board are women. that makes a difference. and if each one of us can mentor and sponsor somebody, we are bringing along a whole other group of women, and i think that is how you do it. reporter: have you equalized pay among men and women at bank of america? >> i think we have. yes. reporter: 100%? >> we think that we are at least at 99%. reporter: pretty close to 100%. >> pretty close to 100%. but not -- you can never stop. ♪

♪ haslinda: welcome back to "bloomberg best." i am haslinda amin. let's wrap up our review of bloomberg television's coverage from davos with the second richest individual, bill gates. he spoke with bloomberg editor-in-chief john mickelthwait about his foundations work fighting malaria in africa and how president donald trump's america

first budget priorities could complicate those humanitarian efforts. bill: the balance of hard power or soft power, the u.s. has a ratio emphasizing hard power. and i would hate to see it shift even further. it is part of these budget discussions, the question of do you grow the state department at the same time you are growing the pure defense budget? even the secretary of defense has been eloquent that you do not want to give up your soft power tools. you know, it is all all being , debated. john: you follow history. is this arguably the first case of a global hegemon willingly giving away that hegemonic power by not investing in software and soft power? usually what happens is the hegemon gets pushed out and the soft power goes. in this case, america is pulling back from helping the rest of the world. bill: i wouldn't say it is unique. the u.s. has often had this debate. you know, our relationship with the united nations has had its up and downs under different administrations.

and you know,, you know keeping some pressure on the u.n., to be efficient and reasonable, is not a crazy thing. how far do you go? you know, it is all to do with specifics. in the case of health, the lives are being saved for very small amounts of money. you can aim to both lift the country up so it is self-sufficient and get rid of the disease. it is not a commitment you are stuck with forever. so i think these ones, even in this atmosphere, make the cut. famouslysident trump, all of these countries he described them in a not terribly nice phrase. do you think he should concentrate more on this part of the world? bill: i think he should. that is the area where i have chosen to take the wealth that was created through microsoft, that warren buffett has been so generous in providing, so i

understand that that money can be very, very well spent. so i am in there saying, come on, let's keep up the good work. haslinda: it has been a fascinating week in davos. you can find many more conversations and panel discussions from the world economic forum at bloomberg.com, along with all the latest business news and analysis 24 hours a day. that will be all for "bloomberg best" this week. thank you for watching. in davos, i'm haslinda amin. this is bloomberg. ♪

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♪ david: what was the human genome project? dr. collins: it is basically the entire instruction book for an organism. david: was it harder to discover the human genome or be appointed by two different presidents? dr. collins: both of those had certain challenges. david: how much longer do you think people really can can keep increasing their longevity? dr. collins: we might figure out how to achieve that by tinkering with the biology. david: what is the single greatest health challenge the united states faces today? dr. collins: more people died of opioid overdoses than of car wrecks last year. it is just unbelievable. >> would you fix your tie, please? david: well, people wouldn't recognize me if my tie was fixed, but ok. just leave it this way? alright. ♪