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FIRST MOVE WITH JULIA CHATTERLEY

Accusations and Insults between Chinese and U.S. Officials in Summit; E.U. Countries Restart their AstraZeneca vaccination programs; The Artist Behind the $69 Million Digital Art Explains What is Next. Aired 9- 10a ET

Aired March 19, 2021 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:24]

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Live from New York, I'm Julia Chatterley, this FIRST MOVE and here is your need to know.

Alaskan acrimony. Accusations and insults between Chinese and U.S. officials.

AstraZeneca activity. E.U. countries restart their vaccination programs.

And people's bounty. The artist behind this $69 million digital art explains what's next.

It's Friday. Let's make a move.

Welcome once again to FIRST MOVE. Great to have you with us from tech market tantrums, diplomatic dust-ups, rising bond yields and a still

unyielding virus. There is plenty as always to discuss here on FIRST MOVE this Friday and lots clearly moving markets, too.

Wall Street recovering premarket following Thursday's painful three percent NASDAQ selloff triggered once again, as I mentioned by rising bond yields,

but they are holding steady today and that's allowing stock market investors some breathing room as you can see.

There are beneficiaries, too, remember. Banks are still bouncing. They can charge more money for loans when longer term interest rates rise. So Wells

Fargo, Bank of America, U.S. banks have all gained two percent plus in Thursday's session selling though, as you can see here the story for Europe

with vaccine hesitancy and rising COVID cases stoking fears of a delay to hopes for the recovery this spring-summer.

Paris and Italy are in fresh lockdowns. The German Health Minister also saying there aren't enough vaccines to stop the current spread even as

several countries resume using AstraZeneca's version of the vaccine. The details on all of that coming very shortly.

In the meantime, no bounce in Asia with most of the stock market majors down by over one percent in Friday's trading session. The Shanghai

Composite is actually now down two percent on the year amid concerns about tightening Central Bank policy.

In Japan now, too, the Bank of Japan signaling at its meeting today that it sees the limits of massive stimulus, too.

But I'll have to say the big driver of Asia sentiment was the acrimony in Alaska. As I mentioned, let's get to the drivers.

The first face-to-face talks between the United States and China under the Biden administration taking a heated turn in Alaska after U.S. Secretary of

State Antony Blinken pressured Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We will also discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan,

cyberattacks on the United States, economic coercion toward our allies.

The alternative to a rules based order is a world in which might makes right and winners take all and that would be a far more violent and

unstable world for all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: And the Chinese delegation firing back with their response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Chinese side felt compelled to make this speech because of the tone of the U.S. side.

Isn't this the intention of the United States judging from what -- or the way that you have made your opening remarks that it want to speak to China

in a condescending way from a position of strength.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Selina Wang joins us now with more. Selina, great to have you with us on this. I mentioned fire return to these negotiations or an icy

tone quite frankly, given that we're talking about Alaska, the occupants of the White House may have changed, but the challenges between these two

nations in tackling these thorny issues hasn't changed and they remain very tough.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Julia, absolutely. Walking into these meetings, we knew that these talks were going to be tense. We knew that

both sides were going to be doubling down on their existing positions.

But even then, the acrimonious talks were far more bitter than you would have expected for a diplomatic meeting. You had the U.S. starting out by

accusing China of undermining global stability with its actions towards Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan, that you had China's top diplomat, Yang

Jiechi, lash out with an around 15-minute speech, calling out the U.S., telling it to stop meddling in China's internal affairs, bringing up racism

at home in America, even talking about America's struggling democracy saying that quote, "Actually, many Americans have little confidence at the

democracy of the U.S."

The Chinese side as you heard there also accuse the U.S. of being condescending, and the U.S. side then complaining of the Chinese side for

quote, "grandstanding."

[09:05:06]

WANG: Now, this acrimonious tone was set long before this particular date. Earlier this week, you had top U.S. officials across the Asia-Pacific

region meeting with key allies, delivering harsh words towards Beijing.

Here in Japan, Antony Blinken saying that the U.S. will push back if China is using coercion or aggression to get its way, and just a day before the

meeting, Blinken had announced new sanctions on Beijing for its crackdown in Hong Kong. So no surprise that these were going to be bitter talks, but

the level of public dispute was not expected -- Julia.

CHATTERLEY: No, absolutely not. And you picked up on a point that I did, too, that point about many Americans having little confidence in the

democracy in the United States, and the response actually, from Jake Sullivan, the National Security adviser saying a confident country is able

to look hard at its own shortcomings, and constantly seek to improve and that is the secret sauce of America.

Look, there was a lot of criticism here. A lot of people weighing in saying, look, there was clearly political posturing, grandstanding, both

sides messaging back home about their stance relative to the other nation.

The Chinese responded directly to that, Selina.

WANG: Yes, we did hear a Chinese spokesperson, Foreign Ministry's Zhao Lijian say that China did not have intentions walking into this meeting of

using grandstanding and they accused the US of launching groundless attacks and said this, in particular, quote: "The opening remarks by the two sides

were full of smell of gunpowder and theatrics, which was not the original intention of the Chinese side. We hope that the U.S. can meet China halfway

building on the conversation between the two heads of states, focus on cooperation."

Now, many experts say that this combative tone is significant and it does indicate a very key shift in China, a view that this is China's time. China

is rising and that the U.S. and the West are inevitably in decline. And this view does make it harder for the two sides to engage in real

productive conversation.

And as you said, there is a level of posturing here because we did hear in a comment, reporters afterwards from a White House official that behind

closed doors it appeared to be more civil, and that the talks were substantive. So perhaps more effective outside of public view.

But it is clear, though, that this is indicative of a deepening rift between these two countries in a growing number of areas, whether it's

around human rights, Hong Kong, Taiwan technology, trade, economic policy, and so much more.

CHATTERLEY: I couldn't agree more if the United States is going to go there and challenge some of these issues and China is sending the message

that they're going to challenge right back.

I guess, the best we can hope for here is an agreement to at least continue the conversation and meet once again. We'll see what Day 2 brings.

Selina Wang, thank you so much for that.

All right, countries across Europe are restarting vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine today. On Thursday, E.U. medicine regulators said there

was no evidence the drug caused blood clots.

Meanwhile, Germany says there's not enough vaccine doses in Europe to contain the current rise in infections by vaccination alone.

Fred Pleitgen joins us now. Fred, and that's the heartbreak of the suspension of this vaccine across many countries is that time has been

lost.

But we have seen certain nations -- Germany, France, Italy -- restart those vaccinations. We've also seen skepticism build, too.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've seen skepticism, Julia, you're absolutely right, for instance, from countries

like Denmark, from some countries, like Norway as well. So they do want to wait a little bit longer.

And then you do have other countries like for instance, Germany, like for instance, France who are saying they need to get this going as fast as

possible because looking at the numbers, just today, you can see that there's a steep rise, for instance, in the amount of new infections here in

Germany alone.

The same, of course is true for a lot of other European countries. In fact, France now putting in place new lockdown measures to try and come to terms

and try to stem all this. It is quite interesting because the German Health Minister, he came out and said, even with the AstraZeneca vaccine, right

now, there simply isn't enough vaccine in Europe to stop this third wave of the pandemic, and so further lockdown measures might need to become

necessary.

I just got back from a vaccination center here in Berlin and it was really interesting to see. It was one that administers AstraZeneca, there weren't

very many people there. The people that we did speak to say that they had no qualms about taking the AstraZeneca vaccine. They said, so far, they've

vaccinated 137 people. They have about 240 still to go.

So really not many people yet, but they say that's also due to the fact that of course, they are getting this going very quickly after just

yesterday learning that the AstraZeneca vaccine can be administered once again.

So we can see is that those couple of days of delays and of stopping the AstraZeneca vaccine really threw a wrench in the rollout here in Germany

and certainly in other places in Europe as well -- Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, the messaging around this now, critically important to get people back into those vaccination sites and getting a vaccine.

Fred, you've also been talking to the Chief Medical Officer of BioNTech, of course, that partner in the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, talking about progress

on tackling variants, because this is part of what we're seeing with the rise in cases all over the world here. It's tackling variants to the

original Wuhan virus. What did they have to say about that?

[09:10:21]

PLEITGEN: Yes, yes, you're absolutely right. And very important, and of course, those variants really a threat to a lot of these countries. When

you hear people, you know, the officials here in Germany speak, they say part of the reason why they think the vaccination needs to go very quickly,

is because a lot of people are afraid of those variants, and what they could mean if those variants spread even further.

So I spoke to Ozlem Tureci, who is the co-founder of BioNTech, and also the Chief Medical Officer and she says, as of right now, they are continuously

testing their vaccine against variants with a lot of success. Listen to what do you have to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OZLEM TURECI, CO-FOUNDER, BIONTECH: From what we know based on the scientific data, the current variants, for example, the U.K. variant and

the South African variant, we are protected against those with the current version of our vaccine.

However, what we also prepare is emphasis basically to be prepared for tomorrow in case such a variant of concern would occur, the process with

which we can adapt to a new variant.

The other is you have to pre-discuss with regulators the process with which you do this --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: The other thing that she also talked about as well was vaccine supply and she was saying that BioNTech, and of course, Pfizer, as well are

working round the clock to try and ramp up production, even more than they have already done.

She said there are, of course, some issues at hand. It's not that easy to start up a new vaccine factory, to repurpose another vaccine factory, but

it is certainly something that they are trying to do at a high pace.

And finally, Julia, just a couple of hours ago, Ozlem Tureci and her husband, Ugur Sahin, the co-founders of BioNTech received the Cross of

Merit here in Germany for coming up with a vaccine that has saved so many people already around the world.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, they're owed in many nations, quite frankly, Fred, it's great to hear.

Fred Pleitgen, great to have you with us. Thank you so much and have a good weekend.

All right, sportswear giant, Nike reporting a mixed bag of results. The company blaming congestion at U.S. ports are part of the problem. Clare

Sebastian, joins me now.

Clare, great to have you with us. Let's be clear, this has been a phenomenal year for the brand where they've launched themselves, I think,

as a digital powerhouse, but revenues here disappointing and it's partly to do with Europe, too, and closures, in addition to those logistical issues.

Talk us through it.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Julia, I think perhaps the good news for Nike and this is that it seems to be external factors

that caused this hiccup. They did beat on earnings, but they missed, as you say, on revenue and that was mostly because of the U.S. market where they

saw shipments delayed because of congestion that we're seeing at ports and containers shortages that's affecting a variety of different businesses, of

course.

And also because of closures due to COVID-19, especially in Europe. They say in January and February, which was the last two months of the quarter,

about 45 percent of their stores were closed. So that hit their earnings.

But as we say, Julia, this company has been a darling of the pandemic, not only because we're all wearing athleisure, of course, but because they had

already started this big digital push and direct to consumer push and that seems to be really paying off.

The stock down a little bit today premarket, but it is up 128 percent since its low on March 23rd last year, which was, of course, the low of the

market, we're approaching the anniversary of that. And I think that's perhaps why you see some investors sort of taking a breather on this.

But overall, the outlook is good. The company raised its full-year guidance and they seem optimistic that they can overcome these external challenges.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, and you make a great point. All this visual communication, virtual communication, you wear the sweatpants and the

leggings beneath on whatever you've got going on, on top. That's a very important point.

What about the current quarter? What do they have to say about the hopes, as far as European reopenings it's clearly looking a little bit challenged

here. But also, perhaps getting through some of those logistical issues and whether or not the goods have to be discounted because the latest season

comes in by the time they hit the stores.

SEBASTIAN: Well, they had an optimistic tone, Julia. They say that they expect revenue to go up 75 percent year-on-year. Now of course, if you look

back to last spring, you can see that the comparison is in their favor.

So 75 percent is still an impressive number and they say that they are going to be able to manage the inventory issues that they've got with

delays, of course in the U.S. causing less inventory and the closures in Europe causing more inventory.

So they've got sort of a balancing act to do there, but they say they should be able to manage that going forward. And of course, you know, with

vaccines rolling out and reopenings happening, even despite the challenges in Europe, they say that going forward, they do look bullish and in

particular, I will say, China is still a really strong market for Nike. Revenue from China helped offset some of the declines in the U.S., it was

up 51 percent on the quarter.

[09:15:02]

CHATTERLEY: You know, Clare, we cannot finish this conversation without talking about hands-free sneakers and when I initially saw this, I thought,

oh my goodness, I'm lazy enough probably to buy those. But there is a really important reason and a heartfelt reason why these were developed.

Just talk us through hands-free sneakers, quickly.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, it's called the Go FlyEase. I love it, I have to say, Julia, I am not having to bend down to put your shoes on in this sort of

germ free world that we live in. It's not just about convenience, but the heartfelt reason that you talk about is accessibility.

This is supposed to sort of provide access to Nike shoes to people with disabilities who might not be able to, to bend down who might really

benefit from this. This is something that they've been working on. For a long time.

I did also get a sort of high profile endorsement from Jimmy Fallon, the late night TV host, who tried it on and even took credit for some of the

design on his show. So this is something that they are looking forward to. It costs about $120.00. They're going to release it to the broader market

soon.

And I think that's sort of part of the brand going forward, they're harnessing more consumer data and they're looking to reach sort of

different corners of the market as well.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. And they're just really cool. Actually, I really like how they look.

SEBASTIAN: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: Clare Sebastian, great to have you back with us, as I said, thank you.

All right, let me bring you up to speed now with some of the other stories making headlines around the world.

South Korea has reversed a controversial decision to require all foreign workers in Seoul to be tested for COVID. Many have said the policy seemed

discriminatory and xenophobic. The testing required started on Wednesday, but drew a torrent of criticism from businesses and from foreign diplomats.

Our Paula Hancocks has more from Seoul.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Seoul City has backed down from a policy that it only announced three days ago. This was its

latest COVID-19 policy and it said that all foreign workers in the city had to have a COVID test or they would be fined $1,700.00.

Now they've changed that now. They have said this Friday evening that it will just be recommended to those people who work in high risk workplaces

and it will also include Korean nationals, not just foreigners.

Now there had been significant pushback to this from diplomats from international businesses from Chambers of Commerce, even from the country's

own Health Ministry.

Now, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul also issued a statement saying that they had voiced their concern to high level Korean authorities and they wanted a

fair and equitable treatment of all U.S. citizens.

So this really did have a significant backlash. Critics saying that singling out foreigners in this way could lead to stigma and

discrimination.

Now, Seoul city officials for their behalf this Friday morning had said that the reason that they were doing this was because there had been an

increase in infections when it came to foreign residents.

This all started as well in a neighboring province of Seoul called Gyeonggi Province. This is where a number of migrant workers work in factories in

very harsh and unsanitary conditions and there was a cluster infection there.

What health officials have said in that province is that it is clear now, once they have done some inspections that many factories there were not

following social distancing rules, and we're not using mitigating circumstances. So those foreign workers working there were working in

extremely vulnerable conditions and they have called for that to be changed.

But back here in Seoul, Seoul City now backtracking completely from that policy after a significant amount of backlash.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

CHATTERLEY: On FIRST MOVE, AstraZeneca's vaccine back in use after numerous suspensions across Europe. But how confident are people about

taking it? We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:45]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE live from New York where U.S. stock futures are pretty volatile over the last few minutes reacting perhaps to

news from the Federal Reserve that it will not allow banks to continue to relax capital levels, a move that could impact borrowing costs.

So as you can see, we've turned slightly in the last 10 to 15 minutes or so. Bond yields though stable after the U.S. 10-year yield rose over 1.7

percent this week, reflecting rising hopes for U.S. vaccinations and reopenings.

President Biden says his administration in the meantime should meet its goal of administering a hundred million vaccines in 100 days as soon as

today, some 40 days ahead of schedule. There are lots of people who said that wasn't an ambitious target and it's proved true.

A very different picture though in Europe where vaccine programs lag and fresh lockdowns loom. Oil down again today after Thursday's eight percent

plunge on fears that are sidelined, Europe will hurt global crude demand.

And we stay in Europe where Germany, France, Italy and others are once again vaccinating using the AstraZeneca vaccine. Many E.U. countries have

suspended the vaccine pending a review over side effects.

The review found it to be safe, but the suspensions have dented public confidence in the drug. In France, for example, a recent poll found only 20

percent of people were willing to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, that compared to 52 percent for the BioNTech-Pfizer version.

Joining us now is Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health at the University of Southampton in the U.K.

Michael, fantastic to have you on the show. How surprised are you by the results of this given that the regulators were saying all along, the

benefits still outweigh the risks.

MICHAEL HEAD, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW IN GLOBAL HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON-U.K.: Good morning. Yes, as we have seen from the European

regulators and also the regulators here in the U.K., where we have handed out over 10 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, plus the opinions of

the W.H.O. all have said all along that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective.

So the findings yesterday from the E.M.A., the regulators there was not surprising. It's good to see the countries reinstating the vaccine. But

then the question is: should they have stopped their vaccination campaigns in the first place? I didn't think they should.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, what is the public supposed to think at this stage? You have varying degrees of vaccine skepticism anyway and what the polls

are suggesting is, the citizens of each of these nations are looking at the different vaccines and going, actually, I want one like a Pfizer or a

Moderna more than I want AstraZeneca.

Is this the wrong way to be looking at it even with some of the messaging issues that we've seen in recent days?

HEAD: Yes, so all of the approved vaccines have a high level of safety and a high level of effectiveness. So it doesn't really matter which vaccine

you get, it is just important that you do get vaccinated against COVID-19 or if enough of us don't get vaccinated, the pandemic doesn't really end.

So it is a little bit unsettling to see the reported levels of vaccine hesitancy within European countries, particularly around the AstraZeneca

vaccine.

Certainly, some European countries like France have high levels of vaccine hesitancy anyway outside of pandemic times. So we do need some really

strong public health messaging to overcome that right now.

CHATTERLEY: There are plenty of people out there and I'm sure you've seen it on social media saying that the decision to suspend the AstraZeneca

vaccine specifically was political.

Do you have any view on whether you think politics played a role and whether politics did or not? Do you believe that the decision has cost

lives?

[09:25:11]

HEAD: Well, I don't know in this specific instance if politics did play a role. Certainly, the AstraZeneca vaccine appears to have been a bit of a

political football over here in Europe over the last few weeks, which is a shame because it is safe and effective.

In terms of whether delaying the vaccine rollout will cost lives, absolutely 100 percent. There's people who are currently unprotected, who

would have been protected if they had received the vaccine over the last few days, and then there's the potential for increased hesitancy to

overcome if people now choose to wait for another vaccine to become available, or if they choose not to get vaccinated altogether.

Vaccines are essentially the way after this pandemic that's going to underpin our response. So this is potentially a decision making that will

have consequences.

CHATTERLEY: How should things like this be handled? Because in a mass vaccination program and we're trying to do this all around the globe, when

you're vaccinating this many people, you are going to see anomalies.

I mean, there was anaphylactic shock, various cases of anaphylactic shock, and they were investigated, but my understanding is no one actually

suspended vaccine distribution as a result. How should the messaging around these kind of clusters of incidents be handled?

HEAD: So yes, you're right. Here in the U.K., at the start of our rollout, we had at least two cases of anaphylactic shock that sent those people into

hospital, so worse severe adverse events.

But the vaccine rollout did not stop. The safety signals and the safety concerns were investigated. It was clearly communicated to the public via

official sources and through the media. And essentially, we did not see any drop in the vaccine confidence among populations.

I think by withdrawing the vaccine across several countries, some of whom didn't have any safety signals of their own, I think you are sending a

message that this could be concerning, above and beyond the very, very small signals that were seen.

So that's now happened, we do need to get the vaccines back on track. So certainly across Europe, we do need good health promotion and strong public

health messaging from politicians, from the media, and from scientists as well to present the evidence base as we see it, which is that they are safe

and effective.

CHATTERLEY: You know, it's so much bigger than Europe, because this AstraZeneca drug is more easy to handle. It's cheaper than the Moderna and

the Pfizer-BioNTech versions. It's making up the bulk of the two billion doses, or at least for the first half of this year that COVAX sends to

poorer nations.

Michael, how should these nations also be handling what they've -- the people the citizens have clearly been watching happen across Europe? The

United States still hasn't -- the regulators in the United States still haven't verified and approved use of AstraZeneca?

We almost need a global regulatory body that says, look, if it's okay for use in the United States, it should be okay to apply elsewhere surely.

HEAD: Well, yes, this particular vaccine is one that's going to be used widely in low and lower middle income settings, as you say, and for

example, it has now been rolled out in Ghana. And last week, when it was rolled out, I had lots of messages from my friends and colleagues in Ghana,

where I do some research, saying it's great, we've got the vaccine.

And then over the last few days, they've been sending me more messages saying, hang on, what's going on here.

So the hesitancy may will spread further afield to poorer parts of the world who can ill afford a vaccine scare to curtail their rollout. So it is

a concern.

We do have the W.H.O. who is kind of the top level global authority who provide guidance, and they have been saying all along that this vaccine was

safe and effective.

So hopefully individual countries can best convey that messaging to their general populations. It's not an easy job to do, though.

CHATTERLEY: No, I feel like everybody has to not only act responsibility for their own citizens, but take responsibility for the messages that you

send all around the world, too. It is a global pandemic.

Michael Head, great to get your insights this morning. Thank you so much.

Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health at the University of Southampton, thank you.

And the market opens next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:32:19]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE, and U.S. stocks are up and running on the last trading day of the week and we've got mostly unchanged,

slightly lower for the Dow as you can see open here on Wall Street. Investors tried to process breaking news I think from the Federal Reserve,

it will not grant the wishes of the banking sector and extend some pandemic relief for the industry.

And bank stocks are lower in early trading after making strong gains yesterday as we were discussing. Ten-year yields also still low on the

session, also giving stocks some breathing room, but we are still sitting above that 1.7 percent level as you can see.

Also today, two of Wall Street's best known names heading in different directions in early trading. As we told you earlier, Nike falling on word

that sales are being impacted by supply chain bottlenecks, but of course, they've had a great 12 months and sit at record highs.

But FedEx firing on all cylinders with revenues rising 23 percent benefiting from what it is calling an unprecedented holiday season.

It believes e-commerce deliveries will remain high quote, "for the foreseeable future," even as lockdowns ease. That's great news for our next

guest.

EBANX is a Brazilian Fintech that looks to bridge the access gap between consumers in South America and international merchants like Spotify, Airbnb

and Uber, and it is now expanding its operations across Central America.

EBANX offers payment solutions for tens of millions of people in Latin America, so that they can utilize the supplies and services of global

companies as mentioned.

Now joining us now is EBANX's co-founder and CEO, Alphonse Voigt.

Alphonse, fantastic to have you on the show. We'll talk about your expansion plans in a moment. But I just want you to explain the vision and

what you're already providing to people in Mexico and Brazil.

My sense is that you're trying to provide access to international services and products as easily as these people could access domestic supplies at

home.

ALPHONSE VOIGT, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, EBANX: Hi, Julia. It's a great pleasure to be here with you at CNN International. Yes, the whole idea

behind EBANX when we founded the company back in 2012, was to give access to people because especially for us, Brazilians and also, and then we

realized that the issue that we're solving in Brazil were also happening in other countries of Latin America.

It's very hard for us to do international purchases, so that was the idea at that time, giving access to people. If people can go online and they can

buy from its home country, they should be able to buy as easy as possible into international merchants, guys like Alibaba.

So that was the idea when we launched EBANX nine years ago.

[09:35:07]

CHATTERLEY: Yes, another company you mentioned, Alibaba, that you're working with. I mean, you're harnessing two waves, the rise of digital

payments and also the rise in e-commerce, and we've got a great chart that we've taken from one of your reports that looks at e-commerce proliferation

pre-pandemic, and then the forecasts post-pandemic and the rise is pretty astonishing.

VOIGT: It is huge, Julia, because of even before the pandemic, e-commerce was already growing a lot different to other sectors in our economy.

But after the pandemic, from one day to another, everyone, the local shops, everyone should go online, quick in 24 hours, so -- and then of course, it

gives rise a lot in all sense in all directions.

And we're here. We're here helping users in e-commerce to sell more to each other from Brazil or out of Brazil, Latin America. So we've -- it's been

very intense days for everyone involved in e-commerce and online transactions after the pandemic started one year ago.

CHATTERLEY: We'll talk about that in a second because I want to ask how you guys are doing in Brazil, because I know it's incredibly tough at the

moment.

But talk to me about your expansion plans, because if we're talking about Central American, and I was just showing some of the statistics for the

region. You've got super high internet penetration in places like Costa Rica, a relatively high level of the population that's banked and yet, when

you look at how many people shop online, it's far lower.

So again, it's about giving people access to buy online, but it's also about attaching them and giving them access to these international brands.

Alphonse, these are very different markets from the likes of Brazil and Mexico. Surely, this is going to be a huge challenge and you're expanding

at a challenging time, too.

VOIGT: It's a revolution that follows some path, Julia. So take Brazil as an example. Brazil started to massify its e-commerce like 10 years ago, and

then, also the online banking population in Brazil was much higher than the rest of countries in Latin America.

Then the other countries in Latin America, countries like Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Argentina, the big ones, they did their homework and their

online population started to grow as well.

But Central America was the one a little bit left behind, and now it's picking up in all directions, even after the pandemic, the numbers are

growing. And this is where we're heading. After we did our expansions out of Brazil, in Latin America, so Central America is in the next big theme

for us here at EBANX.

CHATTERLEY: Who manages the currency risk?

VOIGT: Currency risk, we handle these very properly, of course, U.S. dollars, which is the currency that most of our merchants they trade their

merchandise, and when we sell for these local merchants in the local currency helping the users of those countries to sell, to buy much more

from them, what we do is very simple.

We exchange the local currency for U.S. dollars in the same day of the transaction. So these protects us, protects the user, and most importantly,

protects also, the merchants, and then any one of these in this chain are facing to any kind of currency risk.

So this is what we do since the beginning.

CHATTERLEY: Alphonse, you are going to have to keep us updated of your expansion plans, but I just want to ask you quickly, how are you doing? How

are your workers doing? Because I know you're facing incredibly challenging times there. Do you have a message to other Brazilians that are watching?

VOIGT: It is very tough times, Julia. Yes, you guys, I can feel from your accent, you are a British and we saw that happening first over there and

then we recently saw it happen this, what we call, a second wave happening in the U.S., and now it's happening in Brazil.

Unfortunately, we are the center of the pandemic at this time. So what I have to say to my friends from Brazil, stay home. Do whatever you've got to

do to stop this.

At EBANX, we are all working from home, you can notice from my background, thousand people, not easy. Kids running around in the background, but these

-- whoever can do this, please do it.

Stay from home, work from home and trying to help your country to leave this nightmare as soon as possible.

[09:40:29]

CHATTERLEY: Alphonse, great to have you with us. Stay safe, please and we wish you and everybody there well.

Alphonse Voigt, co-founder and CEO of EBANX, and come back and talk to us about how it's going soon.

All right, coming up on FIRST MOVE, Beeple after the break with all this talk about the value of NFT's -- remember we discussed? The artist himself

here to explain the excitement. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. It is official, the NFT market is in the toilet. I mean it. This image of digital toilet paper is worth about

$2,000.00. That's the bidding price for NFTs made by Charmin. Jumping on the craze for charity, its digital content rakes in staggering sums of

money, $200,000.00 for a LeBron James clip, $600,000.00 for a famous GIF, millions for Jack Dorsey's first tweet.

But what are NFTs or non-fungible tokens? Well essentially, they're a means of verifying a digital artwork by blockchain, the ledger system for

cryptocurrencies. Fungible goods are things where one unit is identical to the next, so think gold, dollars, oil or Bitcoin. A Bitcoin.

Non-fungible means it's unique and it can't be replaced like one of a kind trading card or a physical work of art, such as an oil painting that can

only be in one place and has a definitive owner.

It's true, a digital image can be duplicated, but by connecting it to the blockchain, the image has proof of origin and ownership and can be sold or

traded.

And our next guest, the artist, Beeple people sold this piece for nearly $70 million. But critics are already warning the market will be flooded

with NFTs blowing its allure.

[09:45:14]

CHATTERLEY: Well, Beeple joins us now. He is otherwise known as Mike Winkelmann. Mike, Beeple, great to have you on the show. Thank you for

joining us, other than a monster tax liability, how has life changed in the last week?

MIKE WINKELMANN, ARTIST KNOWN AS BEEPLE: Well, it hasn't changed that much yet. But it's definitely, I think still sort of sinking in.

I mean, obviously, this entire thing is just so, so crazy, just because this this whole NFT market. You know, I've been creating digital art for

the last, you know, 20 years, but there was never really a true way to like collect it.

And so with NFTs now, there is and so, you know, to be quite honest, this is not something I saw coming. And so, you know, it's just been

overwhelming, for sure.

CHATTERLEY: We played the clip of you when you won, and you said words that I can't repeat on television. Did you ever think -- did you ever think

that your art would be worth this much? And is there some part of you that looks at this and goes, this is insane?

WINKELMANN: No, every part of me looks at this and says this is insane. Yes, not in any sort of way did I think.

To be honest, so the piece that sold is a piece that I've been working on for the last 13 years. I've been doing a picture every day for the last 13

years, and I always thought there'd be some attention paid to it. I did not think it would be this quick and I did not think it would be this much.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, where do you get your inspiration from? You know, when I look at some of the pictures that you do, your art is quite

counterculture.

I mean, you highlight the brands, the themes, the iconography, I think that dominates a lot of our existence and you poke fun to it. You see the

climate fighting back against some of the damage that we're doing. It's a similar way to how, I guess, Banksy operates. Is he an inspiration for you?

WINKELMANN: Sure. Yes. I mean, I'm inspired by a lot of artists. Banksy is definitely super cool. And you know, the things that he's doing are super

awesome. But I think there's so much inspiration that I draw from sort of current events and honestly, the news, I watch a ton of the news. I

actually watch a ton of CNN to be quite honest.

I think there's just -- it's so pervasive, and it's so sort of, like dominating that, you know, to me, it's very interesting to sort of take

these tools, these advanced digital tools, and sort of -- I almost look at it like a political cartoonist, except instead of doing a sketch, I'm

doing, you know, advanced 3D render each day as a way to sort of comment and sort of, you know, sort of just participate in what's happening in in

current events.

CHATTERLEY: What is it about NFTs though? Because you said and you openly said that you've only got involved in like the last three months, this idea

of actually being able to own and prove that you own digital art. There are critics already stepping in and saying, but look, it can still -- it can

still be replicated. The ownership doesn't actually mean enough.

And there's so much tokenization going on. I mean, I mentioned we're seeing a toilet roll tokenized admittedly, it's for charity, but I wonder whether,

one, there's a flood of NFTs now and in some way, the art is being devalued, to your point 13 years of work.

WINKELMANN: Yes, I don't think the art is being devalued. I think you're actually placing, in some cases, placing too much value on the work. I

think there's definitely, we're in some level of like a bubble when you have, you know, toilet paper NFT selling for $2,000.00. Like, that seems

like, you know, a bit ridiculous.

I think NFTs as a technology are super exciting. And very -- a lot of people are comparing it to the early days of the internet. And with the

early days of the internet, you know, you had a lot of hype, and you had a lot of speculation, and then there was a bubble and the bubble burst, but

it didn't wipe out the internet.

People kept using the internet and that's what I think is going to happen with NFTs. There's going to be a huge rush of people into this. And they're

going to, let's NFT everything. Okay, here's ChapStick, let's NFT it like, you're already seeing that now.

But I think, you know, people are going to pretty quickly get wise to that and all that stuff is going to fade away and the things that really sort of

connect with people on like an emotional level, or have a lot of like utility, those are the things that are going to stick around because again,

this concept of just ownership, of proving ownership, that's actually really, really simple and kind of basic, and it's basic enough that I think

it's going to be used for many, many different things outside of you know, digital art and the things you're seeing now

I think it's going to be like you buy a car, you get an NFT to prove you own the car. You buy your house, you get an NFT to prove that, a diploma.

It's going to be attached to a bunch of different things.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's the blockchain being able to encapsulate the data of more than anything, perhaps, but did Beeple just call NFTs a bubble? I

think, he did.

WINKELMANN: A hundred percent. I don't know where we are in the bubble. But it's something where you're seeing again, the Charmin thing is sort of

a perfect example. It's sort of like these are things that are just kind of -- there are certain things out there and people need to be careful about

what they're buying because not everything is going to hold value long term.

So people, again, I think very much long term, NFTs are not going anywhere. But people need to be careful right now, because there's a lot of hype.

[09:50:22]

CHATTERLEY: Are you the big winner of this bubble?

WINKELMANN: It appears I might be the big winner. It appears, I might be the big winner.

And that's the thing where it's like, you know, at first, I was very worried about this bubble. And then it's like, wait a second, I've been

doing this for 13 years. I've been doing, you know, digital art for a very long time and I'm going to keep doing it.

So I personally believe the work that I'm doing will sort of will stay in this bubble and will stand the test of time. But it is, you know, something

that people need to be careful when they're sort of, you know, investing in this stuff.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, and I've run out of time. But I know your next project is trying to tackle some of the energy intensity in in crypto and a charity

project, too. So I'll tweet that out to support you, but great to get your insights as well. And thank you for being so honest. Mike Winkelmann,

digital artist, Beeple.

WINKELMANN: Awesome. I appreciate it. Thank you guys for taking the time to talk.

CHATTERLEY: Congratulations. That's all I can say.

WINKELMANN: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: All right, still ahead. Wall Street house or animal house? Junior Goldman Sachs analysts say they feel like college pledges in their

push to get ahead in finance. We will explain right after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. France, restarting its rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine and the French Prime Minister showing his support

getting the jab himself at a military hospital near Paris. This happened moments ago.

France among several European countries to start up AstraZeneca shots today. This, after the European Medicines Agency pronounced the vaccine

safe yesterday, and this of course key to rebuilding confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine.

All right, let's move on. Call it a different kind of Wall Street stress test. Junior Goldman Sachs analysts say they are being pushed to the limit

by rising workloads. A positive sign for Goldman's health, not so great perhaps for workers' wellbeing.

Paul La Monica joins me now. It was a small survey, Paul, but it was really eye-opening. The length of weeks that they were working, the conditions,

some abuse in there, too. Walk us through it.

PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, I mean, 90 hour work weeks is obviously stretching the bounds of just what any person can do with regards

to how hard they can actually work and the horror stories from some of these junior analysts talking about how they don't eat, they don't take

showers, just basic things that you would expect people should be able to do to balance their work and personal life.

This isn't even talking about, you know, hey, I'm not able to go out on a date or have dinner with friends you know, in the pre-COVID world. You

know, people aren't showering or sleeping more than four or five hours, something has to change.

And it's a bit surprising given that so many MBA students now are going to the Big Tech firms because more money and a better quality of life and it's

a cooler job than working on Wall Street in some respects.

[09:55:10]

LA MONICA: I'm surprised that Goldman and other investment banks aren't doing more to tackle this problem more aggressively.

CHATTERLEY: It definitely shocked me. I'm going to do a quick calculation, 80 hours a week, 48 weeks a year, assuming a $90,000.00 starting salary,

didn't assume a bonus, it's $23.00 an hour.

I mean, who's going into banking? What did Goldman Sachs say?

LA MONICA: Yes, Goldman Sachs says that it is taking these concerns seriously, and that they are going to work on trying to figure out ways to

have a better quality of life for employees.

But you know, Julia, this is not new. I mean, I think we're in a world where people are more willing and able to air their grievances, thanks to

social media.

But obviously, I mean, you know, I have friends who are in the investment banking world, you know, 20 to 25 years ago when they first started out and

they reported very similar issues, you know, back in the 90s.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, I had made some flashbacks in what I saw there. Paul La Monica, thank you so much for that update there.

All right, that's it for the show. Stay safe. Have a great weekend.

And "Connect the World" is next.

We'll see you next week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

END