Author: Admin

ICGN Excellence in Corporate Governance Programme 2021

2021-09-13 posted by

 

Seems like a good program. If you sign up, kindly please also tell us at info@bdti.or.jp so we can get credit for the introduction.

This 4-part course builds an awareness of how institutional investors with globally diversified portfolios analyse corporate governance practices and a company’s approach to generating long-term value. The curriculum focuses on recent changes to the Japan Corporate Governance Code and standards expected of JPX listed companies, particularly the new Prime Market segment. The ICGN Course provides:

  • Global Investor Lens with ICGN Member opinion responsible for AuM in excess of over $59 trillion, based in over 40 countries
  • Best Practices based on ICGN’s Global Governance Principles used by ICGN Members in voting polices and company engagement
  • Local Relevance applicable to national standards/regulations and clarity around any differences between local and global standards
  • Practical Experience featuring live case studies from international investors and pre-recorded keynote speeches

The ICGN Faculty is a prestigious group of professionals with practical experience from the corporate and investment field. Each 90-minute module will include insights and case studies presented by an international guest (with simultaneous interpretation) and teaching from the lead faculty member in Japanese language. Participants can also view a pre-recorded 15-minute keynote speech from an influential governance practitioner.

Read More

“Carbonwashing: A New Type of Carbon Data-related ESG Greenwashing” (Young and Schumacher)

2021-07-30 posted by

“ Despite the increased attention and capital incentives around corporate sustainability, the development of sustainability reporting standards and monitoring systems has been progressing at a slow pace. As a result, companies have misaligned incentives to deliberately or selectively communicate information not matched with actual environmental impacts or make largely unsubstantiated promises around future ambitions. These incidents are broadly called “greenwashing,” but there is no clear consensus on its definition and taxonomy. We pay particular attention to the threat of greenwashing concerning carbon emission reductions by coining a new term, “carbonwashing.” Since carbon mitigation is the universal goal, the corporate carbon performance data supply chain is relatively more advanced than that of the entire sustainability data landscape. Nonetheless, the threat of carbonwashing persists, even far more severe than general greenwashing due to the financial values attached to corporate carbon performance. This paper contextualizes sustainable finance-related carbonwashing via an outline of the communication as well as the measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) of carbon emission mitigation performance. Moreover, it proposes several actionable policy recommendations on how industry stakeholders and government regulators can reduce carbonwashing risks.”

Read More

7/13 “Director Boot Camp” Held by Zoom! Next Courses: 2021.09.07 & 11.18!

2021-07-14 posted by

On July 13th, still in the midst of the pandemic, BDTI held its English Director Boot Camp via teleconference. The day-long intensive course was attended by 10 highly-experienced and highly interactive participants. The participants heard lectures about corporate governance by Nicholas Benes along with a guest lecture by Andrew Silberman of AMT, and exchanged experiences and opinions. Even during a pandemic, training continued smoothly, with all participants chiming in with insightful comments and questions.

We are planning to hold the next course on September 7th(Tue) & November 18th (Thur) 2021. Sign up early! Please see a description of our director training course here or click the button below for further information.

Read More

BDTI Welcomes Eiji Hirano, Former Chair of the GPIF’s Board of Governors, as a New Director to its Board

2021-07-01 posted by

The Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI) is pleased to welcome Eiji Hirano to its board of directors, effective as of July 1st, 2021.

Until April of this year, Mr. Hirano served as the first Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan (GPIF), which is the world’s largest national pension fund with approximately USD1.62 Trln (178 Trln Yen) under management. During his time as Chair, Mr. Hirano stressed the importance of corporate governance as one of the essential pillars of ESG at both portfolio companies and the GPIF itself. He led the GPIF’s board in overseeing management of its massive portfolio during a time of accelerating change, a global pandemic, and growing world-wide recognition of the need for greater corporate sustainability.

Mr. Hirano’s career has spanned economics, international financial markets, investment, public policy and corporate governance, and he has a Master’s degree in Economics from Harvard University. In addition to his recent experience at the GPIF, Mr. Hirano brings to BDTI a wealth of perspectives gained from his distinguished career at the Bank of Japan, where he stepped down as an Assistant Governor at 2006, and other positions in the private sector. Currently, he serves as the non-executive Vice-Chair of MetLife Japan, and as an outside director at NTT Data and Riken. He is also an auditor at the Keizai Doyukai and a member of Japan UNESCO‘s domestic committee.

Commenting on Mr. Hirano’ appointment, BDTI Representative Director Nicholas Benes said, “we are honored and excited that Mr. Hirano has joined our mission to improve the effectiveness of boards by providing practical, high-standard directorship training programs.” Echoing his sentiment, fellow Representative Director Kenichi Osugi (Professor of Law at Chuo University) said, “Mr. Hirano’s broad range of experience will help us better prepare board members for what faces them in the future.”

Mr. Hirano said, “the success of sustainable investment depends largely on the quality of boards and corporate governance, and the best way to meaningfully improve those things is through new knowledge, sharing of “best practices”, and discussion, — all the things the director training entails. Therefore, director and governance training are essential for society. We need to tirelessly convey this reality to those asset managers that are adopting ESG and impact investing techniques, but may be uncertain as to how they can make a more direct contribution to overall sustainability. I am hoping to encourage more domestic institutions to support BDTI’s activities.”

Read More

Next Boot Camp is July 13 (Tue.)! Sign Up Now!

2021-06-04 posted by

The next Boot Camp will be on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Course will be on ZOOM, so anyone in the world can join. Make sure to sign up now! This one-day intensive program teaches participants key legal and corporate governance knowledge they need to responsibly serve on, report to, or analyze boards of Japanese companies, both public and private. The course consists of short lectures interspersed with time for interactive discussion and Q&A about real-life situations that occur on boards, and how to handle them. The course is usually good fun for everybody, since we learn from each others’ experiences, as well as from BDTI. The course covers topics such as:

  • Intro to corporate governance; the role of directors and the board
  • What is legally required of directors under the Company Law?
  • Important corporate law and securities law topics
  • Legal and liability issues, and how to handle them
  • Director duties and conflict-of-interest situations
  • Statutory auditors, internal control, and the audit process
  • The role of the board in strategy and risk management
  • Best practices, committees, and succession planning
  • Japan’s new corporate governance code
  • Changing “corporate governance culture” in organizations
  • The global wave of ESG investing
Read More

Japan’s Corporate Governance Revolution: Halfway Through the Tunnel (Equities First/Nasdaq Report)

2021-05-10 posted by

Over the past six years Japan has put in place a long list of corporate governance reforms, amounting to a virtual revolution in thinking at corporations, domestic institutional investment firms, and even society. However, because Japan is still only halfway through the “tunnel” of reform and thinking, much of the resulting value creation for investors and other stakeholders is yet to come. Key takeaways from this whitepaper’s data-driven review of Japan’s governance “revolution” include:

Tangible corporate governance reform has come to Japan, in the form of a robust Corporate Governance Code and Stewardship Code.
In tandem with government policy, advocacy by investor groups and pro-governance corporate leaders will continue these positive reforms in the years to come.
Japanese firms have “got the message” that a sea change has occurred: a majority of firms are hiring outside directors, establishing nominations and compensation committees, and reducing takeover defenses such as poison pills.
Japanese boards are starting to embrace global trends for incentive-based compensation, higher levels of diversity, and focus on returns and capital efficiency.
Cross-shareholdings and other “allegiant holdings” are being unwound as foreign and domestic institutions alike have become more proactive in their proxy voting strategies, making the market more attractive in general.
Merger and Acquisitions (M&As) and activism are on the rise, raising capital efficiency or managerial awareness of the need for it.
As a result of many of the above changes, Return on Assets (ROA) values in Japan are trending higher across the board.

Read More

Golden Week 2021: Holiday Closing Notice

2021-04-28 posted by

We will be closed from May 1st to May 9th due to the consecutive national holidays as the Golden Week Holidays.

Business will resume on Monday, May 10, 2021.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your kind understanding.
Please feel free to leave us a message at the e-mail address below, and we will get back to you shortly.

Read More

“Toshiba Faces Investor Call to Seek Alternatives to CVC Bid” (Reuters)

2021-04-13 posted by

“Investors say a deal of this size would lure other potential suitors. Two sources familiar with the matter said Toshiba has been approached by other suitors in the past. When a change-of-control is likely to occur in the United States, the target is required to seek and achieve the highest price reasonably available from any and all parties, said Nicholas Benes, a corporate governance expert and representative director of the Board Director Training Institute of Japan.

Please click here to read the full article.

Read More

4/7 “Director Boot Camp” Held by Zoom! Next Course: 2021.07.13!

2021-04-09 posted by

On April 7th, still in the midst of the pandemic, BDTI held its English Director Boot Camp via teleconference. The day-long intensive course was attended by 10 highly-experienced and highly interactive 4/7participants. The participants heard lectures about corporate governance by Nicholas Benes along with a guest lecture by Andrew Silberman of AMT, and exchanged experiences and opinions. Even during a pandemic, training continued smoothly, with all participants chiming in with insightful comments and questions.

Read More