Main items from the Summary: Eighty-two percent of TOPIX 100 companies have appointedexternal directors. The trend is more pronounced in companieswith a high ratio of foreign investors. In this regard, whencompanies do not have any external directors on their boards,they can still meet the Tokyo Stock Exchange requirement thatcompanies appoint independent directors by ensuring thattheir audit & supervisory board members2 are independent.
Category: Governance
David Larcker: “Where Experts Get It Wrong: Independence vs. Leadership in Corporate Governance”
David F. Larcker and Brian Tayan have written an excellent article on the extreme importance of quality of governance processesand contextual aspects that affect them. Here's the introduction; you can download the entire article at the link below.
ACGA on its Paper About Kansayaku Boards and Audit Committees –
New Japan Paper on Kansayaku Boards and Audit Committees -ACGA recently completed a paper titled, “The Roles and Functions of Kansayaku Boards Compared to Audit Committees”. The paper compares the Kansayaku (statutory auditor) Board in Japan with the Audit Committee in other developed markets.
ACGA Publishes Paper: “The Roles and Functions of Kansayaku Boards Compared to Audit Committees”
The Asian Corporate Governance Association(ACGA) has published a paper analyzing in detail, and comparing, the legal roles and actual functions (in reality) of kansayaku boards with audit committees. BDTI's Representative Director Nicholas Benes advised ACGA with respect to the kansayaku system, drawing upon both personal experience as well as interviews and advice from dedicated kansayakuand other audit experts.
Nikkei: “Mizuho Bank To Punish 54 Current, Ex-Execs For Gangster Loans”
Saturday, October 26, 2013 TOKYO (Nikkei)– Mizuho Bank plans to reprimand 54 current and former senior executives for failing to take responsibility for loans to borrowers associated with organized crime, The Nikkei learned Friday.