A certified "public interest" nonprofit
by Charles Duross, James Hough — from JD Supra business Advisorhttp://bit.ly/1oBhYSu
While many people don’t know it, a bribery scandal in Japan in 1976 was part of the motivation for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which was signed into law on December 19, 1977.
(The original famous paper, byy Sanjai Bhagat and Bernard Black*)
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has produced these English translations of documents they createdto accelerate thinking in Japan about how to integrate and better utilize outside directors and kansayaku on boards. Overall, they reflect the shift towards a realization that more uniform and higher-level“best practices” are needed, in line with national policy to formulate a corporate governance code.
The ACCJ just released a detailed Viewpoint, urging the Government of Japan to do what it promised to do when it was elected, and more. The summary is below, and the report can be downloaded at the link below.
Paper: Reform Where it is Least Needed:Diffusion of Post Crisis Risk Governance Regulation – byShane Magee,Elizabeth Sheedy, andSue Wright — Those countries where shareholder and manager power is strongest (Japan, Switzerland, UK,US,) are least able to implement fundamental reforms.
The “Japan Revival Vision” written by the LDP’s “Japan Economic Revival Headquarters” has been translated in full. It has been released by Dietman Shiozaki, and can be downloaded at this link:
https://www.y-shiozaki.or.jp/pdf/upload/20140620104142_aUVp.pdf
It can also be downloaded here: http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/5lehza2y
123 institutional investors, fund managers, and insurance companies, and four service providershave signed up to comply with Japan's Stewardship Code in what will probably turn out to just the first round of compliance statements. Of these, (only) threeinstitutions are special sponsor (significant donors) to BDTI. The list of signatories, and the code itself, can be downloaded at this link:
http://www.fsa.go.jp/en/news/2014/20140610-1/01.pdf
Japan—2014 Article IV Consultation Concluding Statement of the IMF Mission
Tokyo, May 30, 2014 (see below) – Abenomics has been successful in planting the seeds for a more dynamic Japan.The near-term outlook remains favorable and the economy is expected to weather well the consumption tax increase.
Don’t miss the forest for the trees. Historically, May 23rd, 2014 will probably be seen to be the date when the ruling party of Japan, the LDP, “changed its spots”, mutating from the Old LDP to the New LDP.
It was on that day the LDP’s key growth strategy committee agreed upon its new “Japan RevivalVision”, a detailed 74-page document which definitively separated the LDP from many of the vested interests and obsolete structures that have dominated its past, by setting forth policies for:
The Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI) has produced a translation of the table of contents, and the sections related to corporate governance, in the LDP’s “JapanRevitalization Vision”, which was published on May 23rd. As ofMonday, May 26th, the recommendations in this “Vision” became formal LDP policy when they were approved by senior Ministers Amari (METI), Aso (FSA), and Prime Minister Abe.