'Public Relations and Finance'

Global financial markets employ thousands of public relations (PR) professionals in diverse roles. Some of these PR professionals have the most powerful, lucrative communications roles available. Despite an abundance of professional communicators working in financial markets, there are relatively few books or articles published on public relations in the world of finance, particularly in the twenty- first century. The few exceptions among academic publications focus on stock market communication, corporate governance and corporate responsibility. While these are important pursuits, they represent only a tiny portion of the strategic PR programmes in global finance. This chapter attempts to remedy this oversight by exploring the varied roles PR plays – from the apex of financial markets where PR promotes states as financial brands to wholesale markets where financial professionals promote their expertise to each other; from retail markets where PR builds compelling narratives about myriad financial products and services to grassroots PR for financial charities helping the poor and indebted.