Podcasts

Only a few years ago Africa was seen by some as the next great emerging investment opportunity, but a recent economic slide has brought this idea into question. Share Radio's Alexi Phillips reports on what was behind the rise and fall of this optimism surrounding Africa. He spoke with Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society, and Simon Freemantle, Senior Political Economist at Standard Bank

New research from the HomeOwners Alliance has found the housing crisis is deepening - with regards availability and quality of homes, and as a result first time buyers are becoming more desperate. The 2016 Homeowner Survey conducted by YouGov for HomeOwners Alliance and BLP Insurance indicates almost three quarters (73%) of non-homeowners now say they would like to own their home compared to 69% last year, 68% in 2014 and 65% in 2013. And house prices, the ability to get on the property ladder and saving for a deposit continue to top the nation's list of housing concerns. Georgie speaks to Paula Higgins, Chief Executive of the HomeOwners Alliance

Dress codes at work... A woman who was sent home from work without pay for refusing to wear high heels has begun a petition to update employment law. Temp agency Portico says it's now changed its rules after Nicola Thorp complained. She says it's wrong that companies tell female employees which shoes to wear. Georgie speaks to Beverly Sunderland from Crosslands employment solicitors in Oxfordshire

Are you looking to get a mortgage, a loan, even a new mobile contract? How much does a credit report matter? And what are the things that could impact it? Your credit rating can affect your ability to borrow money using products such as credit cards, loans and mortgages. If your credit rating isn’t in the best shape there are things you can do to build it up again and fix any problems. Popular myths include that the credit behaviour of anyone living at the same address could affect your credit score rating and that old debts don't count. Georgie Speaks to Lisa Hardstaff and Joel Davis from EQUIFAX

We’ve heard the case for more controls and curbs when it comes to offshore finance centres, ahead of the Lancaster House Summit. But James Quarmby, Partner at Stephenson Harwood, believes we should be proud of our well-regulated overseas territories and crown dependencies, rather than afraid of them.

Rachel Davies, Acting Head of Advocacy & Research at Transparency International UK, joined Nigel Cassidy and Louise Cooper ahead of David Cameron welcoming world leaders to London, for the kick off of the much vaunted London Anti-Corruption Summit. Has the summit lost any credibility now that Cameron has singled out two summit attendees?

This is 'Crowdfunders', the show that covers the fast-growing world of alternative finance and we've got a very busy show for you today. The big news this week is over the pond in the US. The CEO of one of the big peer-to-peer sites in the US, Lending Club, has left the company under a cloud. Apparently one investor was buying loans on the platform that were riskier than he realised. Some commentators argue that this story is a major blow to the alternative finance industry. We'll find out more. We'll also be looking at a equity crowdfunding campaign for a company called ET Index - it provides information on companies' carbon emissions for investors. And we'll also find out about a big new source of funding for the peer-to-peer site, Lendinvest. Beginning with the Lending Club story, Ed Bowsher begins by talking to Ryan Weeks from the Altfi website.

Time now for our regular focus on investing in the shares of smaller companies. Ed Mitchell of Investment Perspectives is joined by David Thornton, Editor of Growth Company Investor

The latest quarterly review from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research sees world economic growth this year falling to it's slowest pace since the 2009 recession. The growth downgrade to 3% is mainly due to disappointing performances in us and japan, also poor performances for Brazil and Russia. As for the UK, things are dominated by the outcome of the EU referendum, for more analysis Ed Mitchell is joined in the studio by Jack Meaning, Research Fellow at the National Institute.

Morningstar, the investment research and investment management firm are this week, holding their annual Investment Conference. Share Radio's Alexi Phillips went along to the conference and spoke to Richard Buxton, head of UK equities at Old Mutual Global Investors. He began by asking Mr. Buxton about the prevailing macro-economic issues that are troubling him.