BFI Fireside Conversations

This Fireside Conversation features Mr. Thomas Pedersen, who co-founded Copenhagen Atomics in 2015. The young Danish company has set out to revolutionize the energy sector. With their innovative technology, using Thorium instead of uranium in their molten-salt reactors, they can generate energy more safely, efficiently, and much cheaper than traditional nuclear reactors – or other energy sources, like wind or solar, for that matter. Thomas explains how their technology works, where in the business development process they are, and what challenges they are facing. One of the biggest takeaways from this Conversation is the exciting things going on in the nuclear sector! Technologies have advanced much further and no longer resemble the ones usually associated with Fukushima or the traditional nuclear power plants of the past 30-50 years. We believe developments like these are worth learning about for all of us, as we are more dependent on energy supply than we sometimes realize. Unequivocally, and putting it in the words of Copenhagen atomics: ‘Energy truly equals prosperity.’

This Fireside Conversation is with Swiss author, journalist, and communications specialist, Giuseppe Gracia. He explains how both faith and reason are required for building a healthy society, what the core issues of woke ideology are, and why “freedom” has nothing to do with having options. 

Guiseppe’s career has formed around being a PR consultant, and a crisis communications specialist. He served a long tenure as a spokesman for a Catholic diocese, which helped forming his strong beliefs in Christian and classical liberal values and their importance for society.  

n this Conversation, he explains how faith - as in Judeo-Christian values - and reason are ‘like a perfect couple’. They balance each other out and lie at the core of Western societies and human rights. 

Giuseppe therefore cautions not to hastily replace Christianity with ‘new religions’, such as woke ideology or the climate panic that in his view are deeply cynical and anti-human if examined in depth. From his perspective, the woke ideology fundamentally mischaracterizes human concepts like love or freedom, leading young people to chase ideals that will not bring them the fulfillment they are looking for. 

The reason these ideas find so much popularity within younger generations, Giuseppe explains, is that they directly speak to our core instincts of tribalism and safety seeking that are still deeply seated in adolescents. Hence the classical liberal narrative that calls us to grow out of these admittedly comfortable instincts is harder to ‘sell’.

Ultimately, Giuseppe says, it comes down to all of us individually being ‘needed’ instead of ‘needy’, to actively tackle our problems, work hard and make this world better. 

In this part 2 of the Fireside Conversation between our CEO and Chairman, Frank R. Suess, and Natalie Vein, a wide range of topics are discussed including the threat to democracy, inflation, the growing wealth gap, the role gold can and should play in a portfolio, and much, much more!

In this second Fireside Conversation between Frank Suess and well-known Swiss journalist and author, Markus Somm, they pick up Swiss history right where they left off in their first Conversation to discuss Swiss industrialization, the evolvement of direct democracy, and the imperative role fair competition plays in creating a healthy democracy. 

After decades in the financial and geopolitical world, Don McAlvany and his wife, Molly, founded the Asian Pacific Children's Fund (APCF) to support well-run children's homes in Asia. In this Conversation, Don shares why they got involved, how this fund works, and what their vision for the future is.

Travelling though Asia twenty years ago, Don and Molly realised the shocking numbers of children living in horrendous circumstances and how great the need for good, safe children's homes was - and still is. As Don describes it, he 'must have had a heart transplant', because suddenly, the world of business was not as gratifying any more.

After decades as a successful entrepreneur, financial and geopolitical advisor, and author of two best-selling books, his wife Molly, and Don, decided to advocate for these children. They founded the Asian Pacific Children's Fund in 2006 and have been living in the Philippines ever since.

What is unique about their approach is that they do not found new homes themselves; they instead look for existing, trustworthy, and well-managed local homes that need - often desperately - financial support. All funds go directly to the children. As of now, APCF supports 8 homes in the Philippines, India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Indonesia.

In this Conversation, Don explains the criteria they use to select the homes, where the difficulties they are facing in India, Nepal, and Myanmar come from, and how the kids keep them young.

In this Fireside Conversation, Frank R. Suess sits down with Christoph Wild, president of the ASFCMP (in English, the Swiss Association of Precious Metal Manufacturers and Dealers) to discuss the precious metals industry, where some of the negative perceptions of the industry have come from, and what tangible efforts are being taken to change them.  

Christoph Wild has more than 30 years of experience in the precious metals industry. Up until February 2022, he had served 10 years as the CEO and a Delegate on the Board of Directors with the Swiss-based refinery, Argor-Heraeus, one of the leading precious metals refiners in the world.  As president of the ASFCMP, he remains a key representative of the Swiss precious metals industry as he works within the industry, with a variety of active stakeholders, and NGO’s, amongst others, to support and improve the standards of the gold industry. 

Frank and Christoph discuss the tarnished reputation of the industry and why this sector seems to attract bad press even while there is good being done. They also dive into the importance precious metals plays in the Swiss economy, how Switzerland came to be a hub for the industry, and why there is an enormous opportunity for precious metals to avoid the pitfalls that have befallen the finance sector. 

In this Fireside Conversation, Frank R. Suess is joined by Markus Somm. Markus is a well-known Swiss journalist, historian and entrepreneur.

Markus shares how working as a journalist has changed and shaped his political views. His latest endeavour is the Nebelspalter, a Swiss online news portal. Markus and his team offer an alternative, more conservative and free-market oriented perspective, positioning themselves independently of mainstream media and their single-story approach.

Of course, Markus and Frank also discuss Swiss history; how Switzerland became so successful quite a bit earlier than many people think and what led to this unique system we have today. Amongst other aspects, Markus explains how the Swiss were initially known as the Taliban of the middle-ages and then grew into civilised, international entrepreneurs. Listening to Markus, it becomes clear that our direct democracy has organically grown into what it is today and is deeply rooted in our firm rejection of nobility, creating an egalitarian republic very early on.

Nowadays, history is often looked at and taught from a negative spin, especially in the West. Markus is on a mission to share a more appreciative perspective on Swiss history, reminding the Swiss that our country is indeed a very special case.

In this second part of the Fireside Conversation between Frank R. Suess and the CEO of the World Gold Council, David Tait, they discuss the future of the gold industry.

David explains where he sees today's biggest challenges in the sector and how he plans to address them. Contrary to the popular opinion amongst NGOs, he does not believe in an exclusionary, top-down approach, but in creating a decentralized, standardized, fully transparent and therefore self-cleansing ecosystem with low barriers of entry.

David also shares a story rarely told: Where the gold industry already has a positive impact, especially in developing countries, and how he wants to preserve that. Leading the World Gold Council, David has a precise vision for the global gold industry and is on a determined mission to implement it, step by step.

David Tait is the CEO of the World Gold Council and has a clear and exciting vision for the future of the gold industry. Beforehand, he has had a remarkably successful career in banking that ended in 2016 as the Global Head of Macro Products at Credit Suisse. However, there's a much deeper story here.

In this Fireside Conversation, Frank sits down with Anastassios Frangulidis. Anastassios is a renouned economist in Switzerland. For many years, he was the Chief Economist and Chief Strategist of the Zurich Kantonalbank (ZKB), one of the largest state backed banks in Switzerland. Today, he heads up Swiss Multi Asset Zurich of Pictet Asset Management. Pictet is a Swiss private bank and has been a trusted partner of BFI for over 15 years. With his background, Anastassios has immense experience and knowledge in both economic research and investing which enables him to share valuable and comprehensive insights. In this Conversation, him and Frank discuss the many moving parts investors have to consider in today’s environment: Monetary and fiscal policies and their longer-term impact, interest rates, inflation, the economic cycle and where we find ourselves compared to China and Japan and the broader impacts of the thightening of the economy. Furthermore, they underline to growing importance of taking into account the current geopolitical changes and supply chain rearrangements. Finally, they tie their conclusions together and discuss the implications for investors. Now, that a ‘buy and hold approach’ has become very difficult and active portfolio management is essential: Where do the opportunities of tomorrow lie? Where do they see interesting themes and sectors? How can we effectively protect and grow what is rightfully ours? This Conversation was recorded right before the banking crisis started and Credit Suisse was saved. Since then, a lot has happened and it is to expect that there’s more to come. We live in turbulent, but also very interesting times! However, Easter is right around the corner and we hope you can take a step back and enjoy some quality time with your loved ones.

Sune Sorensen is the personal advisor to a select group of BFI's more complex clients including Family Offices and Digital Asset investors and entrepreneurs. He looks back at 20 years of business and professional investment experience across asset classes, investor segments and geographical location. Sune founded and ran an independent macro research company that provided distinct insights on global trends and related investment risks and opportunities for over a decade. He is a partner with a US based think tank focussed on research and advice for leaders in both the public and private sectors. 

In this conversation, BFI Capital Group's Founder and Executive Chairman, Frank R. Suess, and Sune Sorensen discuss how the premises in investing change; how extraordinary outcomes can no longer be achieved with ordinary efforts. They reflect on how the world needs to recalibrate to a multi-polar structure, on inflation and deflation, on the most important considerations before even thinking about your investment strategy, custody, Switzerland's success story and much more.