Eurasia Group strengthens Asia presence with Japan hires and regional summits. Senior appointments strengthen Japan team, building on inaugural GZERO Summit Asia in Singapore and ahead of 10th GZERO Summit Japan on 8 December. November 01, 2026 19:00 ET | Source: Eurasia Group TOKYO, Nov. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Eurasia Group, a leading geopolitical risk advisory and research firm, today announced the appointments of Takashi Okabe as head of its Japan office and Soichiro Shibata as analytical director for Japan. The hires strengthen the firm's presence in Japan and advance its broader expansion across Asia, bolstering its ability to help regional and global businesses navigate a more complex geopolitical environment. The appointments follow the inaugural GZERO Summit Asia, held in Singapore in September, and precede the 10th GZERO Summit Japan on 8 December. Together, the appointments and summits underscore Eurasia Group's commitment to deepening its engagement with business leaders and policymakers across Asia. This comes at a time when Asia plays an increasingly central role in a global landscape shaped by US-China competition, spillovers from Middle East conflicts, European de-risking efforts, and electoral uncertainty. With offices in Tokyo and Singapore, Eurasia Group combines local insight with global analysis to help businesses understand developments across Asia and the region's changing relationships with the rest of the world. Its regional engagement links research, client advisory, and public dialogue on the geopolitical forces shaping investment, supply chains, technology, and economic security. "Asia isn't waiting for the world to sort itself out; it's shaping what comes next. As we mark the 10th GZERO Summit Japan, we are strengthening our Tokyo office and convening a new group of global leaders in Singapore as well," said Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media. "In a GZERO world, understanding Asia isn't optional. The region is central to some of the biggest geopolitical questions of our time - getting it right means understanding not just how Asian countries engage with the world, but also how they navigate one another." "From AI and microchips to rapidly shifting trade and political alignments, so many of the trends and forces shaping geopolitics originate in and flow through Asia," said Maziar Minovi, CEO of Eurasia Group. "We are strengthening our presence in Japan and bringing together leading executives, policymakers, and geopolitics experts in Singapore and Tokyo to help our clients better understand the region's role in global affairs. Through our analysis, research, and exclusive events, Eurasia Group's goal is to help leaders across industries and markets make more informed decisions." As head of the Japan office, Okabe brings extensive experience helping organizations translate geopolitical intelligence into corporate strategy, governance, and risk management. His work focuses on strengthening executive decision-making, aligning strategy with emerging risks, and building resilient operating frameworks. He joins from Control Risks, where he advised government agencies and multinational corporations on complex international challenges and crisis preparedness. "Japanese businesses are navigating increasingly complex decisions about where to invest, how to manage supply chains, and how to respond to economic security policies," said Okabe. "I look forward to working with Soichiro Shibata and colleagues across Eurasia Group to help clients translate geopolitical analysis into practical business decisions." As the analytical director for Japan, Shibata, based in Tokyo, will cover Japan's political and economic affairs, as well as trade and investment trends across Asia. His analysis will help clients assess how domestic policy and regional geopolitical developments affect their business strategies. Prior to Eurasia Group, Shibata led the geopolitical and macroeconomic strategy practice at Monitor Deloitte in Tokyo. The expanded Japan team will strengthen Eurasia Group's capacity to support clients navigating the intersection of politics and business, including economic security, shifting trade and investment policies, and geopolitical risk management. The appointments mark another step in the firm's continued expansion across Asia. About Eurasia Group and GZERO Media Eurasia Group is the world's leading global research and advisory firm. We help clients understand, anticipate, and respond to instability and opportunities everywhere they do business. Together with GZERO Media - the go-to source for first insight into geopolitics - and our full-fledged events team, the Eurasia Group umbrella provides a complete political risk solution. Headquartered in New York, we have offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Mexico City, Singapore, São Paulo, and Brasilia, as well as on-the-ground experts in more than a hundred countries in every region of the world. We are committed to analysis that is free of political bias and the influence of private interests.

Reserve Bank's MPC finally back at full strength. Franz Ruch returns from World Bank, bringing global economic expertise. Economics Editor The South African Reserve Bank has appointed economist Franz Ruch as an adviser to its governors and the seventh member of its monetary policy committee (MPC), a move that is likely to make for even more robust discussions at its bimonthly interest rate meetings. Ruch's appointment, effective from Thursday, brings the MPC to full capacity for the first time since late 2018, just before Brian Kahn's retirement in December that year. Since then, the resignations of other members have at times whittled down the size of the committee to as few as five. The Reserve Bank said Ruch would bring vast monetary policy expertise to the position, returning to the institution from the World Bank where he served as a senior economist and led and contributed to research, technical analysis and writing for publications, most notably the organisation's Global Economic Prospects report. Before the World Bank, Ruch, who has a PhD from the University of Stellenbosch and a master's from Oxford University, worked in the Reserve Bank's economic research department, where he developed and operated economic models and contributed to the monetary policy review. He is the latest member of the MPC since the Reserve Bank appointed Konstantin Makrelov in May to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Christopher Loewald in March. Makrelov, who joined the central bank in November 2018 as lead economist, was promoted to chief economist and head of economic research. Later in May, Makrelov joined the five other members of the MPC in deciding to hike interest rates by 25 basis points, citing intensified inflation risks stemming from higher oil prices linked to the Middle East war, which have hit South African fuel prices especially hard. Four MPC members favoured the hike, while two advocated for keeping rates on hold. The Reserve Bank kept the key policy rate unchanged at 7% at its meeting in July, with four members preferring a hold, while two voted for an increase of 25 basis points. Last week, it unanimously decided to raise it by another 25 basis points as a flare-up in tensions in the conflict rekindled concerns about inflation risks. Previous MPC members have secured high-profile jobs in the private sector after leaving the Reserve Bank, including former deputy governor Daniel Mminele, who retired from the central bank in mid-2019 when his second five-year term expired. He went on to serve a stint as Absa CEO before becoming chair of Nedbank. Another former deputy governor, Kuben Naidoo, joined Investec Bank in 2024 and is also a member of President Cyril Ramaphosa's economic advisory council. Financial services group PSG announced in March that Loewald would join its board as a nonexecutive director from September after a six-month cooling-off period following his early retirement from the Reserve Bank. In September, global political risk research and consulting firm Eurasia Group said that Loewald was joining the company as director for South Africa. Update: October 1 2026 Business Day