Here is BDTI’s most recent newsletter. Please sign up at the top right of https://bdti.or.jp/en/ to receive this periodically.
Click on the link above to see the newsletter.
Here is BDTI’s most recent newsletter. Please sign up at the top right of https://bdti.or.jp/en/ to receive this periodically.
Click on the link above to see the newsletter.
This is the first draft of a working paper led by two respected Japanese academicians who used governance and firm-specific big data to predict future equity returns in Japan . Conclusion: “we constructed a prediction model of firms’ future TSR and used it to show that the investment strategy based on the model’s predictions could generate non-negligible improvement in returns. These results suggest that high-dimensional corporate governance variables contain informative signals associated with future firm performance over and above reliance on purely financial data.”
The research was conducted using BDTI’s detailed, Japan-specific time-series database for all listed companies in Japan. The results are consistent with the fact that every fund manager that has backtested our data so far has bought a license, and every licensee has renewed so far. It would seem that Japan’s square peg of three different governance structures and peculiar practices does not seem to fit into the standard “global” round hole framework used by other data providers.
The recent focus on ESG has allowed certain firms to de-focus on “G” and appeal to all sorts of “ES” policies and plans in their IR materials. This makes the job of investors harder in the sense that true sustainability and better financial performance are less likely to occur without good G in the first place, so one has to separate out the companies which are truly improving the quality of their governance in terms of its substance rather then just superficially assembling all the right boxes in the chart.
Yesterday I made a request below for donations to BDTI, on the occasion of my birthday. The results were: 1) one significant donation from the Swiss Institute of Directors; 2) one donation from an American in California, and one from a Canadian living in Guam; 3) four promises to donate from foreigners living in Japan; and 4) two donations from a Japanese person. Thank you to the supportive donors! … and thanks for the “likes”!
“On April 16th, 2023 I will be 67 years old. On this “occasion” I would like to ask you to consider donating to The Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI), which I have led in offering director training in Japan for 13 years now, training more than 2,700 persons in programs, and many more via e-Learning. At the same time, going forward, I also will make a series of posts (on this discussion forum) giving a perspective or story related to corporate governance, based on recent events and/or my own 15 years of experience sitting on boards here, that will be light, easy reading but hopefully also be thought-provoking.
BDTI’s work is “missionary work” that requires passion and commitment. Perhaps these stories will be of interest in terms of revealing why I do what I do, the challenges that face Japan and its companies and investors, and how they can be overcome. This will be from the point of view of someone who has sat on boards here for almost 15 years, and has been an active advocate for better corporate governance for more than 20 years.
Re: Donation of the Swiss Institute of Directors
2023 From: Hilb, Martin
Sent: Saturday, April 15, 2023
Dear Nicholas
Many thanks for your valuable BDTI’s update report for the FY 2022 and for the great summary of your plans for the current year which is very much appreciated. We would like to congratulate you and your team for your great achievements!
d
Per your request please receive a donation from the Swiss Institute of Directors which is also a not for profit organization. Best wishes and kind regards,
d
Martin Hilb
President of the Swiss Institute of Directors
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As an individual and not representing any organization, I submitted the public comment attached below to METI’s Fair Acquisition Study Group.
Nicholas Benes – Public Comment to the METI Fair Acquisition Study Group-03.15.2023
My conclusion:
” Instead, I believe that the study group should seriously consider proposing that Japan adopt the UK model for takeovers and similar transfers of control or substantial influence, and the UK’s rules for collective engagement. These rules fit much better with Japan’s systemic and corporate governance realities. Were this to be done, the following policies should be implemented:
September 2, 2022
Nicholas Edward Benes
(Writing as an individual. Please see below.)
Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
benesjp22@gmail.com
(Please feel free to email me to receive a PDF copy of this letter.)
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
Prime Minister’s Residence
2-chōme-3-1 Nagatachō
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0014
cc:
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara
Mr. Masahiko Shibayama, Deputy Chairperson, Election Strategy Committee of the LDP
Hon. Prime Minister,
I am writing this letter with the respect that is due you as the foremost leader of this country, who has set forth a concept for “a new form of capitalism.” If I may, I would like to share my concrete thoughts on how further improving corporate governance in Japan can be a positive game-changer for Japan’s economy, society, and financial markets.
When I saw your moving speech to the NPT Review Conference, I was impressed how fluently you read English. Therefore, I am taking the liberty to write this letter in English, attaching a Japanese translation. As the person who suggested to the US government that President Obama visit Hiroshima, I was pleased with your passionate comments.
On July 27th, BDTI sent this letter to senior persons at Japan’s largest asset managers, asking for a dialogue and cooperation to improve Japanese boards via training, engagement, and data. Right now, we have fruitful dialogues with the many foreign institutional investors who are the source of 99% of donations to BDTI, or purchase our data, but very few dialogues with Japanese large investors. They could probably benefit from what we have learned providing director training to 2,500 persons over the past 11 years, and from what my colleagues and I have learned serving as independent directors for many years…. given that most fund managers have never sat on a board. We sent out letters like this last year, but received no responses. We will let you know what the result is this year; what kind of firms responded (if any) vs. not. (Note: the letter below is a translation from the original Japanese. )
=================================
Mr. /Ms. XXXX
President/Chairman/CIO
XXX Corporation
Dear ______________,
I am Nicholas Benes, Representative Director of the Board of Directors Training Institute (BDTI).
Since its establishment in 2009, BDTI has provided director and pre-director training, and has analyzed data on the status of corporate governance at listed companies, with the aim of improving governance in Japan.
Today, I would like to ask for your help in improving the quality of boards in Japan. This is something which will lead to the greater attractiveness of the Japanese stock market, which is the source of your firm’s profits. I have contacted you because I believe that we are both striving towards this common goal.