Power and purpose: transforming the UK financial system for people and planet

The financial system is not working for people and planet. It finances activities that are harming our planet, helps fuel inequality and does not serve many people well. The UK finance system is at the heart of these problems, both nationally and globally.

There are several features of the UK financial system that make it particularly problematic and in need of change. It is very large compared to the UK economy, much of it is directed towards global finance, and as a result it is central to major global problems such as illicit financial flows and tax dodging. At the same time, it does not serve the real UK economy well, providing less financing for small and medium enterprises and neglected regions, for example. There are major problems of exclusion of marginalised and low-income people. It is oriented towards more speculative and less stable forms of financial institution and activities, with the role of banks and similar actors shrinking compared to peers. It has a very small purpose-driven sub-sector with few ‘good’ actors that put social and environmental purpose at the heart of what they do compared to most other major economies, including the US.

As a systems change organisation, the Lab is interested in the deep structures of economics, power and mental models or paradigms of thought that keep this badly functioning system in place, and how to change these. We adopt an approach focussed on building the power of the community of actors that want to fundamentally transform the financial system for people and planet. 

The Speaker: 

Jesse Griffiths is CEO at the Finance Innovation Lab, leading the Lab’s work to build a financial system that serves people and planet.

Prior to joining the Lab, Jesse was Director of the Development Strategy and Finance Programme at ODI, an international think tank, where he led a research and policy team working on how to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

For the six and a half years prior to that, Jesse was Director of the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad), a network of 50 European civil society organisations (CSOs) working for transformative changes to global and European policies, institutions and structures to ensure an environmentally sustainable financial and economic system that works to eradicate poverty and ensure human rights for all. Before that he was Coordinator of the Bretton Woods Project, a watchdog of the World Bank and IMF, and worked for ActionAid UK on development finance policy. He has also worked for the Department for International Development (DFID) and various other non–governmental organisations, on both development finance and international environmental policy.

Jesse is a trustee of Jubilee Debt Campaign, which is focused on the connections between poverty and debt, part of a global movement working to break the chains of debt both globally and in the UK, and build a finance system that works for everyone. He is also a trustee of Tax Justice UK, a campaigning and advocacy organisation that works to ensure that everyone in the UK benefits from a fair and effective tax system.

Jesse has a Masters in Finance from SOAS, a Masters in International Politics from Aberystwyth University, and a Bachelors degree in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from Leeds University. He has published a wide range of reports and articles on international finance issues, in particular on how to reform the international financial system to help end poverty and support sustainable development.