Category: Investment

From Glass Lewis' blog: In order to improve lagging corporate governance practices, the Financial Services Agency of Japan (the “FSA”) is currently in the process of establishing a Japanese version of the UK Stewardship Code, which was introduced in 2010 by the Financial Reporting Council of the United Kingdom.

The World Bank and IFC have just completed a major study ofCorporate Governance-based Indices (CGIs) in eight countries, concluding that they they can have significant impact on raising the bar for corporate governance. They are usually created by stock exchangs and arebased on standards set forth in stock exchange corporate governance codes. (Note: Japan has no corporate governance code, and no CGI.)

IFC- Study of Stock Exchange Indices-2013
http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/cybqt0ik

This is last year's report by BSR on Trends in ESG Integration, and the 2009 report on the same topic. We look forward to seeing further signs of progress:

BSR – Trends in ESG Integration – 8-2012
http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/vrwfyha0

BSR- ESG Integration Report-2009
BSR ESG Integration Report _Sept 2009_final

Were are posting ISS' 2013 proxy voting guidelines to Japan to the Data Libarary, available at http://bdti.mastertree.jp/f/ec81ntbv. These contain their rule about independent directors, which seems to have had significant impact this year, and which is reproduced below:

India

In India, the new Companies Bill passed the upper house of Parliament. The bill requires that every listed company appoint at least one-third of the total number of directors as independent directors for a maximum of two terms of three years each. A certain class of companies will be required to have at least one female director. Furthermore, directors are barred from holding more than 10 directorships in publicly traded firms.

Useful key metrcis – warning signs – developed by GMI. Simple but effective!

http://www3.gmiratings.com/home/key-metrics-series/

Here is the CFA Institute's great summary of shareholder rights in all world markets. Japan scores well in this category of corporate governance.

http://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdf/10.2469/ccb.v2013.n5.full

Practical Law Company has publicized the United States chapter of thePLC Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions Handbook 2013/2014.The chapter provides a basic overview of public company M&A in the U.S. and is organized in an easy-to-use question and answer format that we hope you find useful.

Click the following address for download.
http://bit.ly/14VGIMQ

From the GMI Newsletter – Large gaps between the compensation of CEOs and other named executives do not necessarily indict the CEOs as imperial or the boards and senior management teams as ineffectual. Any quantitative or binary measure of counter-productive concentrations of power requires thoughtful application to specific companies.

The following entry appeared as part of Governance Metrics International’s GMI Blog. GMI is the leading independent provider of global corporate governance and ESG ratings and research. Corporate stakeholders – including leading investors, insurers, auditors, regulators and others – use GovernanceMetrics services to identify and monitor risks related to non-financial measures covering key environmental, social, […]