Global air passenger demand fell 3.4% in April 2026 year‑on‑year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in its monthly report released in late May, driven by a sharp collapse in traffic to and from the Middle East. Total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) were down 3.4% versus April 2025; excluding the Middle East RPKs rose 1.2%. Available seat kilometres (ASKs) fell 2.9% and the industry load factor eased to 83.1% (‑0.4 percentage points). Demand for carriers based in the Middle East plunged (total demand down about 46.6%, international demand down about 48.1%), while Asia‑Pacific, Latin America and Africa recorded growth. North American demand was flat. IATA director general Willie Walsh warned jet fuel costs more than doubled in April, pushing fares higher and prompting airlines to trim forward schedules. The report notes capacity reductions and rerouting — including stronger direct Europe‑Asia flows replacing West Asia connections — as carriers balance higher fuel costs and weaker demand.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its 2025-26 annual report it will widen the scope of the retail e‑rupee to include more welfare direct benefit transfers (DBT), domestic retail use and bilateral and multilateral cross‑border pilots. During 2025-26 the RBI ran multiple welfare‑linked pilots in Gujarat, Puducherry and Chandigarh that used programmable CBDC features to channel food subsidies and other benefits. The central bank is also advancing tokenisation work — including the Unified Markets Interface — and plans a CBDC and Asset Tokenisation (CAT) sandbox for testing products and services. For cross‑border work the RBI signed a digital assets pact with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and is in talks with Singapore and the Central Bank of the UAE, while joining BIS Innovation Hub projects to build interoperable rails. Retail e‑rupee circulation fell to Rs 7.71 billion at end‑March 2026 from Rs 10.16 billion a year earlier. Separately, the RBI’s Indian Financial Sector cloud went live in beta with nine users as phase‑one services roll out.

AkademikerPension, a Danish pension fund managing roughly $25 billion, said on May 29 it has placed SpaceX on its exclusion list and will not participate in the company’s upcoming IPO or buy shares on the secondary market. The fund cited what it described as an “extremely deficient” governance structure — noting founder Elon Musk is expected to control more than 80% of voting rights while serving as CEO, chief technology officer and board chair — and said public investors would have limited ability to influence management. The fund also criticised SpaceX’s proposed valuation, saying market indications of at least $1.8 trillion were unjustifiable and that the company “cannot reasonably exceed” $1 trillion. AkademikerPension’s stance echoes concerns raised by several U.S. public pension funds over SpaceX’s dual-class voting structure and other listing terms. SpaceX filed for an IPO in late May and is expected to begin marketing in early June, with some reports suggesting pricing could take place around June 11. AkademikerPension said it will exclude SpaceX from both active and indexed holdings because of the combined valuation and governance risks.

India's Supreme Court on May 29, 2026 partly allowed Reliance Industries Ltd's appeal in a long-running 2007 Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) futures case, setting aside a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) disgorgement order of ₹447.27 crore. The bench found SEBI had not met the higher burden of proof required to establish fraud and market manipulation under PFUTP regulations, saying breaches of position limits and aggressive trading alone do not automatically constitute market abuse. The court directed SEBI to refund ₹250 crore that RIL had deposited in the Investor Protection Fund pending appeal. However, the apex court affirmed that RIL violated position-limit and disclosure norms under SEBI circulars and upheld a separate penalty (reported at around ₹25 crore) for regulatory lapses. The ruling clarifies that hedging and imperfect hedges are legitimate risk-management strategies and narrows the scope for classifying position-limit breaches as fraud.

KPMG Australia’s chief executive Andrew Yates and head of audit Julian McPherson resigned on May 29, 2026, after the firm acknowledged its handling of a whistleblower complaint about inappropriate sharing of client documents “fell short” of expectations. The whistleblower first raised multiple allegations in 2024, including that audit partners accessed confidential board papers which were allegedly used to win work; the matter was made public in March 2026 during parliamentary remarks. KPMG said initial internal reviews did not have the necessary rigour and appointed external law firms, including Allens and Ashurst, to further investigate. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has opened preliminary inquiries and discussed the case at a parliamentary committee hearing. KPMG apologised to the whistleblower and affected clients, reported the issue to regulators and professional bodies, appointed an interim CEO, and said it will engage an ethics consultant and strengthen controls as investigations continue.