“Stock markets do not merely reflect economies; they shape them.” Speaking before the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gilles Roth, fresh from the tripartite talks and with the heads of the world’s major financial centres gathered in Luxembourg, Arunma Oteh made no attempt to announce new products or regulations. Her speech took the form, above all, of a lengthy call to order directed at the financial markets and their leaders.

The former Chief Executive of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission, now an executive in residence at Oxford, has painted a particularly bleak picture of the current global situation. “We are facing a confluence of challenges unlike anything any generation has ever experienced simultaneously,” she explained, citing the war in Ukraine, tensions in the Middle East, geopolitical upheavals, climate crises, inequality and the disruptions caused by artificial intelligence.

“Taken individually, each of these developments would already be a challenge for a generation. Taken together, they represent a test for civilisation,” she emphasised.

“We don’t even know what we don’t know”

In a speech that was at times highly political, Arunma Oteh also condemned the erosion of multilateralism and the inability of leaders to respond collectively to current crises. “We are entering a world of historic uncertainty,” she said, echoing the findings of an international research institute. “We are facing a landscape in which we do not even know what we do not know.”

But it was another remark in particular that stood out during her speech. “I believe we are facing an epidemic of a lack of leadership,” she told an audience of stock exchange officials, financial executives and institutional representatives.

Nevertheless, her message was not a pessimistic one. Throughout her speech, Arunma Oteh sought to highlight the historic role of financial markets during periods of reconstruction and transformation. She referred to the launch of the first modern initial public offering in Amsterdam, the financing of war efforts during the world wars, and the Marshall Plan after 1945. “Financial markets make possible things that could otherwise be unimaginable,” she said.

Democratising wealth

Luxembourg featured prominently in her speech. Arunma Oteh pointed out that the Eurobond market originated in Luxembourg and praised the pioneering role played by the Luxembourg Green Exchange in the development of sustainable finance. “The market can be both commercially successful and beneficial to society,” she said.

The former World Bank official also cited numerous examples to illustrate how capital markets could help finance development. In particular, she pointed out that, with just $20bn in paid-in capital, the World Bank had managed to generate nearly $1trn in development aid through the leverage provided by the financial markets.

But the main thrust of her speech focused above all on the need to ensure that financial markets serve the public interest. “The world needs $4.5trn a year to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” she pointed out. “That represents less than 1.5% of global assets under management.”

For Arunma Oteh, the financial markets can no longer be driven solely by a focus on returns or market capitalisation. “It is the duty of everyone in this room to think about how to democratise wealth,” she insisted. She also cited the figures on global inequality published by Oxfam. “328 billionaires now own $18.3trn in wealth,” she pointed out, emphasising that this amount exceeds the GDP of many countries.

The importance of Ubuntu

Sustainable finance was another key focus of her speech. As co-chair of the Taskforce on Inequalities and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD), Arunma Oteh called for greater integration of social issues, human rights and inequalities into corporate and investor reporting standards. “This is not a new regulatory burden,” she explained. “It is the missing piece that completes the picture.”

But beyond the figures, standards and markets, it is above all a philosophy of collective responsibility that she has sought to convey. Arunma Oteh concluded her speech by referring to the African concept of Ubuntu, which is based on human interdependence.

“I am because we are,” she summed up. Before leaving the stage, she put a series of questions directly to her audience: “Am I doing everything I should be doing to unlock society’s potential? Am I acting with the sense of urgency that the world demands today?”

Questions that seemed less like the conclusion of a conference and more like a wake-up call to a financial industry facing increasingly high societal expectations.