Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. Today we’re covering: But we start with Nomura, which has handed a British banker a record pay package for an executive officer at the Japanese group. Christopher Willcox, who has led Nomura’s wholesale banking division since October 2022, was paid $12mn in the year ending in March. That’s more than triple the amount made by the bank’s chief executive Kentaro Okuda in the same period. The award comes after a year in which Nomura finally returned to profit growth, driven by a rebound in its wholesale business, which includes trading, investment banking and international wealth management. A surge in stock trading the first three months of the year, when Japanese stocks eclipsed their 1980s bubble peaks, helped Nomura increase annual profits for the first time since Okuda took over as chief executive in 2020. Here’s more on Willcox’s big payday, and how it stacks up against top bankers in Europe and the US. And here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today: Economic data: China reports May industrial profit figures, Australia publishes May labour market statistics and Malaysia releases its May producer price index. The US reports revised first-quarter GDP figures. Monetary policy decision: The Philippine central bank is widely expected to hold rates for a sixth consecutive meeting. (Reuters) Cricket: Unbeaten India and defending champions England face off in the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
Five more top stories1. Sri Lanka has completed a restructuring of $5.8bn of debt owed to a group of creditor nations including India and Japan, marking a significant step in its efforts to exit a two-year-old default. The south Asian country is also in the process of signing a deal with China’s Export-Import Bank to restructure more than $4bn of debt. 2. Exclusive: YouTube is in talks with record labels to license their songs for artificial intelligence tools that clone popular artists’ music, hoping to win over a sceptical industry with upfront payments. The Google-owned video site needs labels’ content to legally train AI song generators, as it prepares to launch new tools this year, according to three people familiar with the matter. 3. Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, South Korea’s busiest hub, was forced temporarily to halt operations after North Korea resumed launching balloons carrying bags of rubbish and suspected human waste over the border. Pyongyang has described the campaign as retaliation for leaflets sent over the border from the South. 4. Julian Assange has landed in Australia after being freed by a US federal court. The Australian citizen’s arrival in Canberra concluded more than a decade of legal wrangling between Washington and the WikiLeaks founder accused of espionage over a landmark intelligence leak. 5. All 31 of the largest US banks passed the Federal Reserve’s yearly so-called stress tests. Banks including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs withstood a theoretical scenario where unemployment rose to 10 per cent during a severe recession. Visual investigationThe Taliban has issued hundreds of deals to mine Afghanistan’s underground riches since retaking power in 2021. Using maps, video and satellite imagery, the FT in association with the Centre for Information Resilience, a UK-based non-profit group, reveals how the Taliban is exploiting an estimated $1tn of gold, oil and mineral reserves — especially nephrite, a type of jade prized in China. We’re also reading . . . China-North Korea ties: Kim Jong Un’s deepening ties with Vladimir Putin could increase his sense of independence from Beijing, writes Joe Leahy. Jordan Bardella: The 28-year-old far-right candidate to be France’s prime minister vowed a “cultural battle” and demanded an EU budget rebate in an interview with the FT. China’s real estate recession: The country’s big housing market correction is not over, writes Plenum founder Chen Long. When will it bottom out?
Chart of the dayThe Japanese yen has fallen to its weakest level against the US dollar since 1986, putting traders on alert that officials might again be forced to step in to support the ailing currency. The country’s top currency official said the government was “seriously concerned” about the yen’s decline and would respond to any “excessive” moves. Yen nears four-decade low against the dollar¥ per $
Take a break from the newsJapanese matcha tea has taken off around the world, with devotees swearing by the feelgood qualities of the vitamin- and antioxidant-rich “superfood”. Here’s where to get your fix of the green tea this summer.
Whisking ceremonial grade matcha at Jenki, London © Frederick Goff Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Gordon Smith | | | Indices Hang Seng ▲ +0.09% at 18,090 | Nikkei 225 ▲ +1.26% at 39,667 | S&P 500 ▲ +0.16% at 5,478 | Eurofirst 300 ▼ -0.51% at 2,045 | Nasdaq 100 ▲ +0.25% at 19,751 | FTSE 100 ▼ -0.27% at 8,225 |
| Currencies € / $ ▲ +0.02% at 1.0680 | $ / ¥ ▼ -0.04% at 160.7300 | £ / $ ▲ +0.02% at 1.2622 | € / £ ▲ +0.01% at 0.8460 |
| Commodities Brent Crude ▲ +0.28% at 85.25 | WTI Crude Oil ▲ +0.12% at 80.88 | Comex Gold ▼ -0.82% at 2,298.00 | Copper ▼ -0.09% at 4.36 | | 10-year bond yields US ▲ 0.082 at 4.320 | UK ▼ -0.008 at 4.129 | Japan ▲ 0.01 at 1.033 | Bund ▲ 0.008 at 2.458 |
| | | For the latest prices go to FT.com | | |