This is an audio transcript of the FT News Briefing podcast episode: IMF executive scandal darkens annual meetings

Lauren Fedor
Hello from the Financial Times. Today is Monday October 11th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

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The IMF is holding its major annual meetings this week, but all discussions revolve around whether the fund manager should keep her post. We will talk about the Chinese electric vehicle battery manufacturer BYD and its plans to go global. And our science editor Clive Cookson shares his report on a potential new treatment for depression.

Clive cookson
So it’s desperately needed medically and it’s also an exciting technology.

Lauren Fedor
I’m Lauren Fedor, I’m replacing Marc Filippino, here’s the news you need to start your day.

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The International Monetary Fund begins its annual meeting today with the fate of the leader of the fund very uncertain. Kristalina Georgieva has been accused of manipulating data in favor of China while at the World Bank several years ago. The scandal has divided IMF members, with the United States pushing for her to leave and European powers wanting her to stay. This is Colby Smith from the FT.

Colby Smith
Well, it’s very, very embarrassing. I don’t really know another way to describe it. I mean, the board is split into two camps at this point. So the United States and Japan, which are the two main shareholders of the fund, are on one side and you have France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom supporting Georgieva. And according to people familiar with the matter, you know, China and Russia are aligned with the Europeans on this issue as well. I think more generally what’s important is what this all means for the fund going forward. So we’ve heard from many people close to the fund, who have held very senior positions within the fund, say that if the fund publishes various reports or publications, will people now question the veracity and integrity of the fund? these reports? And I think that’s actually kind of the crux of the matter.

Lauren Fedor
Colby Smith is the FT’s US economics writer.

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One of the largest manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries in the world is the Chinese company BYD. It also manufactures electric vehicles which sell well in China. But now the company wants to be globally competitive. To find out more, I am joined by Henry Sanderson of the FT. Hi, Henri.

Henri sanderson
Hi.

Lauren Fedor
BYD is therefore already well known to major global investors. One of the early contributors was Warren Buffett. What did he see in the company?

Henri sanderson
Yeah, so Buffett invested in late 2008. You know, the start of the financial crisis. And the founder of BYD, Wang Chuanfu, who works incredibly hard, you know, he works at the factory until 11 o’clock every night. He really won Buffett over. And the story was that Buffett offered to buy even more BYD, but Wang refused, which Buffett saw as a good sign that paid off immensely. I mean, stocks since then have risen over 3,000 percent. And I think that’s one of Buffett’s best investments, you know, after Apple, at least in one of his best investments.

Lauren Fedor
Henry, can you tell us a bit about BYD’s battery technology?

Henri sanderson
Yes, in most electric vehicle batteries outside of China they use what is called NMC or NCA technology, so they contain lithium but also cobalt, nickel and manganese. And what BYD has done is turn to another chemistry or technology called LFP, which just uses lithium ion and phosphate, which are all, you know, abundant materials in the earth’s crust. And they really redesigned this technology to improve it and make it viable primarily for electric cars and longer range electric cars. So the importance is, you know, that you get a cheaper battery and you don’t have all of those other metals in it.

Lauren Fedor
And how much of a benefit is that?

Henri sanderson
Yeah, I think that’s a huge plus. And you know, if we look at mass market electric vehicles, you know, if we look at replacing a lot of cars with electric vehicles. You know, it’s going to put huge pressure on the mining industry and get enough cobalt and nickel. And the cobalt, over 60%, 70%, comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And nickel is also a huge problem because a lot of it, you know, is mined in Indonesia, where you know, it takes a lot of land to mine for nickel. So BYD’s battery technology, you know, will lighten up some of those supply chains.

Lauren Fedor
BYD therefore has this advanced battery, but it also manufactures its own cars. You wrote about how he ships these SUVs to Norway, right?

Henri sanderson
Yeah, BYD, I mean, ever since Buffett bought the stake in it, you know, it’s wanted to be a global company. And in fact exported tons of electric buses all over the world. I mean, even in London where I am, you know a lot of the buses are BYD buses. And they’re all over Europe, they’re in South America, they’re in the United States. So he already has experience selling electric buses to many cities. But now they want to export EV passenger cars. And it starts with Norway, which is fascinating because Norway is emerging as a very competitive kind of test market for a lot of these Chinese companies.

Lauren Fedor
And is that where they see the real growth, in cars?

Henri sanderson
I think, yes, that they see growth in electric cars, but also very open to sharing this technology with other automakers. And so they talk to Tesla, they talk to other automakers about selling, you know, just their batteries, and they want to list this battery company on the stock exchange as a separate company. So they’re very open to helping other car manufacturers, which is unusual. The big question, you know, what the analysts told me is, you know, will automakers be confident to get batteries from BYD when at the same time they’re a competitor, right? not ? They also produce the cars themselves. So that’s also kind of a big question.

Lauren Fedor
Henry Sanderson is the FT’s commodities correspondent. Thank you Henri.

Henri sanderson
Thank you so much.

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Lauren Fedor
Our science editor, Clive Cookson, just reported on a potential new treatment for depression. A recent study shows that this debilitating disease could be relieved by using carefully targeted neural electronics. The trials took place at the University of California at San Francisco. Clive is joining me now. Hi, Clive.

Clive cookson
Hi, Lauren.

Lauren Fedor
So a lot of essays fall on your desktop. What drew your attention to this one?

Clive cookson
Partly because depression is such a scourge of public health around the world. The World Health Organization estimates that there are 280 million people suffering from depression, severe depression. And the bad thing is that in about 30 percent of the cases the existing treatments, drugs and ECT, electroconvulsive therapy and of course, talk therapy, psychotherapy, they just don’t work. So it’s desperately needed medically. And it’s also an exciting technology, and it sounds like a great and very rewarding application of neurotech.

Lauren Fedor
How does the technology work?

Clive cookson
It is a form of deep brain stimulation, and it is the most sophisticated form used so far. Basically, the neurosurgeons at UCSF put an implant right under the patient’s skull, who we call Sarah. She doesn’t want her full name used. And from that implant, there are two fine threads extending deep into his brain, going to different areas of the brain. And the point is, one electrode detects signs of depressive feelings, a bad sort of downward spiral in Sarah’s mood, and the other stimulates a different area of ​​the brain, which is associated with rewards and pleasure. And when those two get together, when the depressive feelings kick in, the stimulation in the other area immediately lifts it up. I mean, Sarah, the patient, when she spoke to reporters at the press conference to kick off this study, was just thrilled with the difference it had made in her life.

Lauren Fedor
And what was the size of the trial? Were there a lot of other people besides Sarah?

Clive cookson
Well, that’s the weakness of it. This is what scientists call an N = 1 test. She is the only patient for whom there are results. But it is extended. They enlisted, enlist a few more who are starting. And the idea is to do 12 in total in this trial.

Lauren Fedor
I think you’ve written about this in the past, but deep brain stimulation has been used to treat epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. Have there been any barriers to its use in the treatment of depression?

Clive cookson
Yes, depression is a much more difficult target because for epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease, the areas of the brain responsible for these disorders were well known, so they knew where to target the stimulus. With depression, the brain circuits involved were and are much more mysterious, so they had to do a lot of gentle probing in Sarah’s brain to find the two places where it would work.

Lauren Fedor
Do you think this treatment could be used for other forms of mental illness?

Clive cookson
I think if this turns out there are a lot of mood and anxiety disorders like OCD where it could be used. The biggest challenge, I think, is going to be showing that it works in depression. And remember, it’s an invasive surgical technique, and it’s expensive. For this first trial, they used a $ 30,000 implant, which was originally developed for epilepsy, and adapted it for their depression trial. And then there are all the associated costs. So, although it can be used for some patients with the most severe long-term intractable depression like Sarah, it will need to be simplified and made much cheaper in the long term if it is to have an impact on the depression or in the long term. other psychiatric fields. diseases.

Lauren Fedor
An exciting development, but still a long way to go.

Clive cookson
Yes it is.

Lauren Fedor
Clive Cookson is the science editor of the FT. Thanks, Clive.

Clive cookson
Thank you Laurent.

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Lauren Fedor
You can read more about all of these stories at FT.com. This has been your daily FT News briefing. Make sure to come back tomorrow for the latest business news.

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