Aurelia Butler

(Reuters) – Japan’s government is likely to present its nominees for the next Bank of Japan (BOJ) governor and two deputy governors on Feb. 10, sources have told Reuters, a choice that will affect how soon the central bank could dial back its massive stimulus.The nominees, if approved by both houses of parliament, will succeed BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his two deputies, Masayoshi Amamiya and Masazumi Wakatabe.Kuroda’s term ends on April 8, while those of Amamiya and Wakatabe expire on March 19.Below are possible candidates for the posts:MASAYOSHI AMAMIYA – VERY STRONG CONTENDER FOR GOVERNORCurrently deputy governor, Amamiya has spent most of his career at the central bank drafting monetary policy ideas and is nick-named “Mr. BOJ” for masterminding many of the bank’s unconventional monetary easing ideas.He played a key role in drafting Kuroda’s huge asset-buying programme in 2013 and consistently called for keeping ultra-low interest rates. But he also said in July the BOJ must “always” think about the means of exiting ultra-loose monetary policy.An avid fan of classical music, Amamiya is known for his deep contacts with lawmakers and bureaucrats that help him read which way the political wind is blowing in steering policy.HIROSHI NAKASO – VERY STRONG CONTENDER FOR GOVERNORA career central banker who served as deputy governor until 2018, Nakaso played a key role in navigating an exit from the BOJ’s first spell of quantitative easing in 2006.With long experience overseeing the BOJ’s market operations and international affairs, Nakaso has repeatedly warned of the drawbacks of prolonged monetary easing such as the distortion its huge presence could create in bond and money markets.Nakaso laid out his idea of an exit from ultra-easy policy in a book published in May. Under that plan, the BOJ would first ditch its 10-year bond yield target, then raise short-term interest rates and finally move to reduce its balance sheet.HIROHIDE YAMAGUCHI – POSSIBLE CONTENDER FOR GOVERNORA career central banker, Yamaguchi served as one of the two deputies of former BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and played a key role in crafting an asset-buying scheme under which the bank first began purchasing exchange-traded funds (ETF) in 2010.Since retiring from the BOJ in 2013, he has criticised Kuroda’s stimulus as relying too much on the view central banks can influence public perceptions with monetary policy.Warning of the rising cost of prolonged easing, Yamaguchi has also called for ending the BOJ’s huge asset purchases and abandoning an yield cap he describes as unsustainable.MASATSUGU ASAKAWA – POSSIBLE CONTENDER FOR GOVERNORLike Kuroda, Asakawa formerly had the role of Japan’s top financial diplomat, a job he took in 2015 and kept for four years. During that time, he battled a strong yen and engaged in tough negotiations with then U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on currency policy.After retiring from the finance ministry, he became president of the Asian Development Bank in 2020 – a job Kuroda also took before becoming BOJ governor.In his book, Asakawa praised Kuroda’s stimulus programme as a right move to beat deflation. He also said yen declines would be harder to stop than yen rises via currency intervention, because the amount of foreign currencies Japan can sell to prop up the yen would be limited to the size of its foreign reserves.DARK HORSE CANDIDATESTraditionally, the BOJ and the finance ministry take turns filling the central bank governor post, holding the post for only a single five-year term. That broke when Kuroda was appointed in 2018 to serve a second five-year term.If history is any guide, the next BOJ governor would be chosen from the central bank’s ranks. But there is a chance Prime Minister Fumio Kishida opts for a dark horse candidate.Among names floated by analysts are Columbia University professor Takatoshi Ito, who is close to Kuroda, and former top currency diplomat Takehiko Nakao.Given Kishida’s close ties with the finance ministry, he may hand-pick a former top bureaucrat from the institution, though there is no consensus on who could be among strong candidates.SHINICHI UCHIDA – POSSIBLE DEPUTY GOVERNORA career central banker who spent most of his career at the elite monetary affairs department, Uchida landed a rare reappointment for a second, four-year term as the BOJ’s executive director overseeing monetary policy. Many analysts see the reappointment as a sign he could fill one of the two deputy governor posts.Together with Amamiya, Uchida played a key role in drafting many of Kuroda’s policies including the introduction of negative interest rates and yield curve control in 2016.People who know him say Uchida firmly believes that the BOJ must maintain ultra-loose policy to reflate growth and tighten the job market enough so that wages rise more.TAKEO HOSHI – POSSIBLE DEPUTY GOVERNORAn economics professor at the University of Tokyo, Hoshi is well-versed in Japanese monetary policy and is a regular member of government panels and the BOJ’s academic workshops.At one of the BOJ workshops held in November, Hoshi explained how structural changes in Japan’s labour market could push up average wages more than in the past.”The BOJ must start worrying about the possibility of inflation accelerating more than expected,” he told Reuters, adding the BOJ may abandon its yield cap as early as this year.FEMALE DEPUTY GOVERNOR CANDIDATESNo female has yet served as BOJ deputy governor or governor, a tradition Kishida may seek to change to enhance diversity.One possible candidate is Tokiko Shimizu, who rose up the ranks in the male-dominated institution and now serves as executive director overseeing international affairs. People close to her describe Shimizu as dovish on monetary policy.Other candidates include think tank head Yuri Okina, who calls for phasing out the BOJ’s yield cap, and former BOJ board member Sayuri Shirai, who proposes a review of the current stimulus so the bank can adjust interest rates more flexibly.FINANCIAL BUREAUCRAT DEPUTY GOVERNOR CANDIDATESIf a former BOJ executive becomes governor, there is a strong chance one of the deputy governor posts will be filled by top finance ministry bureaucrats such as Shigeaki Okamoto and Yasushi Kinoshita.Kinoshita told Reuters the BOJ should eventually head for an exit from ultra-loose policy, and in doing so must move “cautiously and steadily” to avoid causing huge market turbulence.Ryozo Himino, a former head of Japan’s financial watchdog, is also considered a dark horse candidate. People close to him describe Himino as critical of the BOJ’s negative rates policy for the damage it is inflicting on commercial banks’ profits. More

(Reuters) -A criminal case against two former 21st Century Fox executives and a sports marketing company accused of bribing South American soccer officials to obtain lucrative broadcasting rights will reveal “a culture of corruption,” a prosecutor told a jury in a Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday.The former Fox executives, Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez, and Buenos Aires-based Full Play Group SA have pleaded not guilty to crimes including wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. The charges are part of a long-running corruption probe surrounding FIFA, the world governing body for soccer.”This case is about the corruption of international soccer,” prosecutor Victor Zapana told jurors in opening statements, saying the alleged scheme funneled money that could have gone towards building stadiums and developing youth and women’s leagues into the pockets of corrupt officials. Zapana said the next several weeks of trial would show how the defendants joined a “culture of corruption” and aimed to cover their tracks using secret ledgers and coded messages.An attorney for Full Play Group said the allegedly illicit payments were “expected, asked for and even demanded” by South American soccer officials. The “institutionalized” nature of the payments meant Full Play never intended to defraud anyone, lawyer Mayling Blanco said.An attorney for Lopez told jurors his client was not aware of the bribes and immediately reported them to Fox upon learning of them. “The evidence will show he had no reason to get involved in this crime,” lawyer John Gleeson said. Martinez’s lawyer told jurors that the government’s case rests largely on testimony from cooperating witnesses who lack credibility. “There are no emails corroborating any of this,” lawyer Steven McCool said. Argentine businessman Alejandro Burzaco is set to testify as the government’s star witness, reprising a role he played in 2017, when he took the stand against three former soccer officials in a related case. Burzaco pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2015 and admitted to paying more than $160 million in bribes. He has yet to be sentenced. Prosecutors accuse Lopez and Martinez of scheming to bribe officials at South America’s soccer federation CONMEBOL to win broadcasting rights for that continent’s top club tournament, the Copa Libertadores.They are also accused of using bribes to help Fox obtain inside information about bidding for U.S. broadcast rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Fox paid $400 million for the English-language rights to both tournaments in 2011.Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Co bought most of 21st Century Fox in 2019. Disney is not a defendant.The charges are part of a sprawling FIFA corruption probe unveiled in May 2015. More than 40 defendants have been criminally charged in the probe, and at least 30 have pleaded guilty. More

TOKYO (Reuters) – Business confidence at big Japanese firms slid in January with manufacturers showing a negative reading for the first time in two years, the Reuters Tankan survey found, reflecting a slow recovery from the pandemic amid a global economic downturn and rising living costs.The drop in morale could undermine policymakers’ hopes for Japanese firms to boost investment and accelerate wage hikes that would outpace rises in inflation.The Reuters Tankan index for big manufacturers stood at -6 in January, down from +8 last month, with car, electronics and textiles manufacturers among the gloomiest sectors.The negative reading – the first since January 2021 – indicates that the number of firms that said business conditions were poor was greater than those that said they were good. It was the most pessimistic reading since December 2020.”Uncertainty over the business environment and capital spending by our clients is growing due to the spread of the coronavirus in China and rises in raw material costs due to the Ukraine war,” a manager at a machinery maker wrote in the comment section of the survey.”Prices are rising everywhere including prices for gas and electricity, materials, shipping and processing machinery. And some clients won’t swallow price hikes, squeezing our profits to a degree,” wrote a manager at a metal firm.Morale was much stronger in the service sector, with that index at +20 in January, a drop from +25 in the prior month which was its highest level in more than three years. Among non-manufacturers, only the real estate and construction sectors had negative readings.Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, unexpectedly contracted by an annualised 0.8% in the third quarter, hurt by a weak yen and higher costs of living and for doing business.The Reuters Tankan monthly poll, which closely tracks the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) key tankan quarterly survey, also asks firms if they expect business conditions to improve or worsen over the coming three months.The big manufacturers’ index saw a 12-point improvement to +6 for April, while for service sector firms the outlook fell 5 points to +15.A separate Reuters poll has shown that economists expect Japan’s GDP to climb by an annualised 0.9% in the current quarter.Later on Wednesday, Japan’s central bank will wrap up a two-day policy-setting meeting.Last month it kept its ultra-easy policy but shocked markets with a surprise tweak to its bond yield control that allows long-term interest rates to rise more. Speculation is also rampant in financial markets that the Bank of Japan – an outlier among global central banks aggressively hiking rates – will move to phase out dovish Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s policies of massive stimulus when he steps down in April.The Reuters Tankan survey, conducted from Dec. 23 to Jan. 13, canvassed 495 Japanese large non-financial firms capitalised 1 billion yen ($7.8 million) or more, of which 250 responded. Companies respond on condition of anonymity.($1 = 127.8800 yen) More