Wise and wherefores

Bad news for London Stock Exchange this week: fintech company Wise has opted to move its primary listing to New York.

After reporting income up 16% to £1.4bn, Wise declared an intention to dual-list in the US and UK.

“We believe the addition of a primary US listing would help us accelerate our mission and bring substantial strategic and capital market benefits to Wise and our owners.”

Not a hammer blow to LSE, but at least a reminder that many corporates find the allure of NYSE a little more shiny than that of the City.

Vox populi, vox DEI

Amid all the noise that equity, diversity and inclusion policies (EDI or DEI, depending on your side of the Atlantic) are in retreat thanks to the White House’s ideological spasm, there comes news that some business schools are holding their ground.

The Financial Times reports business schools are “responding with renewed commitment, underlining their executive education programmes as places for progress, resilience and strategy-driven leadership.”

The FT quotes Federico Frattini, dean of Milan’s PoliMi (Politecnico di Milano) business school, saying: “Business schools have been and will continue to be a place where they teach future leaders to prioritise sustainability in everything they do.”

PoliMi is the first business school to achieve B-Corp status.

In a disconcerting world, it’s good to find some rational thinking.

Paris agrees

Actually, Italy is not the only place to find some sensible thinking. In France, a survey finds 81% of people want multinational companies to face a mandate to prevent social, environmental and climate impacts.

The survey, undertaken for NGOs Reclaim Finance and the Citizens’ Forum for Economic Justice, says in addition that 86% think companies should face regulation to be more transparent about efforts to prevent climate and environmental impacts. An overwhelming 90% say companies should be required to write climate transition plans in line with the 1.5 degree C global warming target.

The survey will provide useful ammunition for campaigners arguing that the EU’s current effort to water down sustainability reporting requirements (the so-called “omnibus” process) shouldn’t go too far. But félicitations to the French for their bon sens.