lizzie: good morning. happy memorial day if you are in the u.s., hope you are having a good bank holiday here in the u.k.

some market action this morning, -- in paris higher 1/10 of 1%. -- in italy, higher three tens of a percent with the broader stoxx 600 really struggling for traction this morning. adding to the confusion with the ecb chief economist saying that the ecb is on track to start cutting rates next month but it is going to have to keep rates and restrictive territory all year. if we break the stud 600 down by sector, you got utility leading a tense of a percent this morning. volumes are light, the u.k. is out of action, so take that rate down with a little pinch of salt. as we look ahead tomorrow, we've got u.s. equity futures pointing to a lower opening, keeping to narrow ranges. investors weighing solid corporate earnings against the higher for longer rates outlook. euro-dollar at 108, oil at $82 a barrel. in terms of our top stories this

morning, at least 40 palestinians were killed in an israeli airstrike at a camp for displaced people in rafah late on sunday. this is according to the hamas- but military of health and it comes two days after the international court of justice issued it will wind the return -- interpreted as telling israel to halted operations. elon musk's x-ai has raised $6 billion to challenge his former competitors. and shares of china evergrande group tv unit more than doubled in hong kong. those are your top stories this morning. >> if i can have everybody answer the same question, the answer to that is we are the custodians, we are responsible for the savings and the pensions of real people.

like my mom and dad and your mom and dad. we do a better job every day. >> is the world's largest listed hedge fund manager and man group has a woman in charge for the very first time. robin was promoted from president to chief executive, the high point of a 15 year career at the firm. the former barrister enters the world of finance three decades ago and never left. >> the speed of change, the impact, the global nature, the challenge of it just never stopped getting more and more infectious for me. francine: in this episode, i speak about diversity, purpose, and what the future holds in an ever-changing world. francine: thank you so much for joining us on leaders. the world is a bit strange. there are so many public crises or whatever you want to call it. it is difficult to get a handle of what comes next. robyn: yes.

that would be the shortest answer i could ever give. yes. if this year has taught us anything it is that prediction is not air strongest suit, perhaps. and that isn't just in relation to markets, it is in relation to these big geopolitical events that we are still living with. robyn:robyn: quite incredible to think that we are in a better place. every six months there is the doom and gloom crew saying this is it, interest rates have gone too much. and yet the economy holds. robyn: i think when we talk about it, we have this conversation about higher for longer which i still say out loud and then cross my fingers in some ways that maybe i'm going to be entirely wrong, but where are the nuances in that message? what we are unlikely to see is 0%. we are probably unlikely to see 2%.

we may see some 50 basis points adjustments for sure, but i think what we have been signaled clearly from central banks is that they are not frightened of using policy to control inflation or to try and respond to inflation. and i think that is the messaging we should all kind of get used to. last 10 years, 0% free money. next 10 years, higher for longer with that slight nuance in the way i described. francine: i imagine 2024 can be difficult because of volatility. it makes it harder to manage money. robyn: i think it does. the denomination effect that we saw because of the kind of hick ups in the system with the banking crisis and ldi, that put a premium into liquidity. how do you manage through these different economic cycles, and are you prepared or are you ready for hedging which means

that at times you're going to do well and at times you are not going to do well with the entirety of your portfolio, and that's ok. actually managing your portfolio for these different changing economic cycles or behaviors you are supposed to be doing. francine: does it change how you leave man group? robyn: it changes because of the way that we position the organization. we are a organization that is diverse. we have different engines doing different things on that fundamental discretionary side. we have products in the macro space, we are long only, we are long-short. but what we are seeing is our clients are interested in more customized solutions. solutions that actually answer the problem they've got with a challenge they have rather than here is a product, by it or

nothing else. it changes in the fact that the value you are driving toward is not just about here is a product, but here is a solution. francine:francine: i know you want to be in the private credit space. hiring is also something you need to think of carefully. robyn: we don't make widgets. what we have our highly talented individuals focused on being the very best they can be in the work lace and delivering what they do. that can be in error engines or in our operations or middle office department. hiring the very best people, retaining, keeping those people, giving them opportunity, giving them a space where they can be the very best they can be is incredibly important. it is tech, talent, vision. it is about knowing that when people come to work every day, every single person adds value

and is valued. that is important. if i could have everybody answer the same question, what do you come to work to do everyday, and the answer to that is because we are the custodians and we are responsible for the savings and the pensions of real people like my mom and dad and your mom and dad, than we do a better job every day. francine: there is a war on talent, a battle to get the very best. what do they want? robyn: that is the one size doesn't fit all thing. who doesn't want to be around really smart people? no one. who doesn't want to be around a place which values your input? who doesn't want to be in a place that doesn't seek to be better today than it was yesterday? who doesn't was to be around a place that is actually interested in you as a person and incapable of making you

better? so where do we go? we go broad, we go wide, we look for energy and excitement. that person who is able to get energized. francine: you don't always hear that from a big finance chief executive. is there a perception for finance? robyn: i think finance hasn't done as good a job as we might and explaining the value we bring to society more generally. i don't cure cancer. i wish i could. i wish i was that smart and capable to do that. but what we do is protect and enrich the savings and the pensions of people who've worked incredibly hard all of their lives and diligently put their money aside in their 401(k) or wherever it may be, and we are entrusted with that and we can give them, if we do our job well, financial security. we can provide something that

enables legacy investing, enables access to health care, to education, to a roof over your head to pay the bills. that is a pretty important thing to do. francine: you seem to be filled with a big sense of purpose which you don't often get from hedge fund managers. robyn:robyn: i run a firm that has a big sense of purpose and i think that energy is something we should put to work. when i sit down with big allocators and we talk about what it is we are both trying to do, it is the same. the day we forget that and the day that i think about our numbers in the institutional size numbers that we all talk about, we lose a bit of that sense of what we are here to do properly. francine: coming up, adapting to change in an uncertain future. robyn: i won't go projecting with the next year or the next

five years is going to be. what we need to do is to understand and be dynamic, to think about the impact of markets and changes. francine: from renewed geopolitical risks to climate change, a different working reality, the world of finance is adapting to change. i continue the conversation with man group's chief executive robyn grew.

francine: do you worry about what the future economic footprint looks like for the world? robyn: our job is to say how do you stress your portfolio, how do you think about what their outcomes are today? people drawing their pensions today vs. 50 years from now. man group is 240 years old. we match the duration of our client to our thinking about just returns a year from now, but are trying to think about what they are planning for 30 years from now. i'm not good at predicting what the next year or the next five years is going to be. what we need to do is be flexible, to understand and be dynamic. to think about the impact of markets and changes. francine: are you more worried about geopoliticsor market robyn: functioning? robyn: the fact that we've now changed geopolitics to geoeconomics is something of an impact point. so as we think about what

happened when russia invaded ukraine and the impact on fossil fuel pricing or you think about the worries and concerns rooms might change post-covid and these buffers when you think about corporate real estate, refinancing is inevitable. it is not a 30 year mortgage these things are coming up next year's that is a lot of money being put to work. five buildings are in a different place has a different level of the scene before the changes. geo-economics i think that the empty take into consideration. francine: what do you worry about the most, do you have a ranking for his on the same? robyn: i think it is transformational change. i think we are going to see credit markets playing a role.

i think you see lending tightening and you are going to see a need for financing out there, but it isn't little things. i am a big proponent of credit. but not every active manager, not every credit expert is going to be able to deliver these environments. there is expertise and skill need. how do i think about prioritization? i think that prioritization in terms of capabilities. i think about being as skilled as we can the data, and analytics come in at tech, and credit, and multiple asset classes. and then being able to pivot those. i don't have the luxury of that. i think we have to think about all of these things. francine: are you looking at acquisitions and student spaces? robyn: we've always said we will grow organically and look for acquisitions to increase our

capability on content for clients. what is interesting as we completed our acquisition of private credit management in the u.s. in middle markets. the multiples look more interesting. we've been talking about consolidation. since the gsc. this is one of those points i'm going to perhaps want to laugh about in a few years time, but i actually think as we look at the barriers to entry in this space, if we look about the cost of running our businesses, if we think about the scale that we need to operate at, and the multiples that we are starting to see coming down, i think this could be an interesting time for consolidation. francine: but why has it been a long time coming? regulation, or they were just no appetite? robyn: when cash is free it softens that. i think the moment where people need to deploy at scale in liquid markets, if you look at

the trend, trend has been in private equity. you think about the number of assets that no longer sit in the public domain, that has been a theme over the last 10 years. when private equity doesn't have quite as much cash, when racing is harder, these opportunities for spaces and expertise to come about, they want scale. they need to operate at scale and having an organization that can deliver the amount of scale we put in play, the bit that is perhaps less sexy and exciting, but that infrastructure, the ability to take the city grow them, that is what we do. francine: what do you think of the city of london? where do you see it in five years? robyn: you are talking to a u.k. have been listed ceo. so i could not be more interested in u.k. plc.

i think we have held such an extraordinary position in financial markets and generally, so anything we can do to keep that shine i think is important. but competition is high. in the way that we shouldn't come in firms, sit on our hands and that all of our history is going to count for long if we don't keep running. i am a great believer that we drive and continue to drive u.k. plc. there is such a lot of innovation and creativity and growth. it is such a lot of expertise that sits in these small shores. so anything we can do to keep that alive and keep it at its top game, i am all for a. but we operate as a global organization and i'm going to go where there is strong capability to invest, where the markets are deeper, where the clients need us to be and where we can find opportunity. but i am a u.k.-listed ceo who

can't help but want this to be great. francine: up next, being a female leader in an industry traditionally dominated by men. francine: i am hopeful we are going to see a better reflection of difference at the top of every organization, be it financial services or ordering that. -- bordering that. feel more confident with stock ratings from j.p. morgan analysts in the chase app. when you've got a decision to make... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management. at enterprise mobility, we never stop looking for new mobility solutions. because sometimes the best road forward,

is the one you didn't expect. (♪♪) francine: women make up less than a quarter of employees at thousands of hedge funds and other alternative investment firms globally. they are even more of a minority in senior positions so when man group appointed an all-female leadership team last year, it marked a massive shift for the company and a milestone for the industry. i continue the conversation with robyn grew. francine: 240 years old and you are the first female chief executive of an institution that is 240 years old. shouldn't have been earlier? are you optimistic about the future for females and finance? robyn: i'm hopeful we are going to see a better reflection of

difference at the top of every organization, be it financial services or bordering that. has it been a long time coming? it would be terrific if we could see more female ceos performing. i hope we are going to see a lot after me. the difference is important and i think anything that enables us to put the most talented people at the top of organizations and to lead those organizations with enthusiasm and capability is what we are after. so i'm hopeful that i'm knocking down some doors, barriers, ceilings. francine: the first time someone meets you, it is the infectious energy that people notice. is that how you lead? robyn: i have been accused of being many things over my time, but that sort of slight duracell bunny, ever ready. just keep on going. i am a bit that.

i have an enthusiasm for what we do and a passion for what we do. it is sometimes like i am a big boom in the room but it is something i think is incredibly important. you don't do this job 98%. this is where my mathematicians hate me when i say anything larger than 100%. francine: bro you always like that? robyn: yes. to some extent it is what forged my career, that willingness and that excitement to learn and to be part of fixing things, doing things better? i have a ridiculous enjoyment for learning and doing things. i walk into any of our offices and the short journey in london you have from the first to the fifth floor. if there is somebody in the elevator with me, they can't

wait to get out of the door by the end of it. but it is that interesting what is going on and what is happening. fundamentally i'm driven by being interested in the people i work with and the people we are here to work for. francine: d started as a criminal barrister and went into finance three decades ago. what made you switch? robyn: i loved being an advocate and perhaps i think i am still an advocate in many ways. i thought i know, i will do this commerce thing and i will go back and become a commercial barrister. and it sucked me in. and i never went back. the speed of change, the impact, the global nature. the challenge of it just never stopped getting more and more infectious for me. has the advocacy thing been

perhaps more useful? probably. but it has been just the best journey. francine: do you have bad days and if so, who do you call? robyn: if i have a bad day, i've always been a half-full kind of person. every belief i have is that you make the best out of those tough days. of course there are tough days. of course there are days when they put a challenge in front of you were performance isn't great or where i delight we could have done a better job those are moments where you've got to move forward. you've got to take the next step forward. i think it is resilience. i think it is part and parcel of my makeup is to be resilient. i turned to friends and family and i take a break, i take a breather.

i fill my life with the things that are for positive around me. i have a great family around me, and extraordinary wife and a son and parents and friends and i am enriched by that. so that enables me to take the next step. francine: do you think there is a difference being a leader in 2024 to what it was like in 2010? did jobs need to come with more of a sense of purpose and morally leading? robyn: i don't know a different way of doing it than the way i do it, and that is with a sense of purpose for sure. when you speak and you are in charge of an organization i think it is incumbent upon leaders to be enthused and to be passionate and be engaged. i think when times are tough, when things are tricky in the world, i think it is important that you know that and that you

acknowledge that, and we have had some tough times in the world. the oil markets in the world for people to live their lives, we run global organizations with people who come from places that are now in war zones, or that are too close to borders where there are war zones. where the challenges have been very real post-covid or where the issues are being felt materially in politics. and not to acknowledge that i think feels inauthentic. francine: it is tough being close to your employees. how do you do that? robyn: it's about communication, about the available and transparent. it's about setting your stall out. who are we and what are we here to do, and how are we going to do that?

my view is you do it by creating extraordinary and exceptional teams that have a focus and that understand the humanity of that and that that is important. to do that, you need different people. different people come with different backgrounds and different flavors of their experience of life. it isn't an easy thing to do, it is just a thing we should do. francine: also i guess employing people that will say no to you. how much do you think of that? robyn: i think it is critical. if i'm going to have people around me, their excellence needs to be something i hear. my executive team like a cross with me in saying this, because really it is less likely the pool of people from which the next brilliant idea is going to sprout and germinate.

it's going to be other people within the firm. we need to hear that and it's important that i am seen as capable of listening and changing my position. there are times when i am going to be less willing to change my position, but having somebody who was going to come from any part of your organization to say hey, i feel this way about this issue and it don't think i'm being heard. francine: where is robyn in five years? robyn: still duracell bunnying. i'm the best answer to every battery life but perhaps on a renewable basis. i hope still leaving man group. i hope looking back on the last five years and thinking how i could do it even better. i hope driving things with the same passion and enthusiasm and i hope with the same brilliant set of people around me. thank you so much. robyn: you're very welcome,

thanks for having me.

my kids and closed in the last for the memorial holiday and in london.