Institutional Investor (December 29)
“Disruption in the asset management industry is imminent…. Due to a combination of new technologies, shifting demographics and changing client demands, the asset manager of the future must self-regulate, adopt corporate governance by investment firms, invest in technology, and cultivate and keep top-notch talent.”
Tags: Asset management, Client demands, Corporate governance, Demographics, Disruption, Imminent, Self-regulate, Talent, Technology
Reuters (August 18)
“Short-sellers who made their names and fortunes wiping billions off Chinese and Southeast Asian companies are setting their sights on Japan after a series of accounting scandals amplified concerns about weak corporate governance there. Until recently, corporate managers in Japan have enjoyed relatively limited scrutiny of their governance standards and accounting rigor.”
Tags: China, Corporate governance, Fortunes, Japan Accounting scandals, Scrutiny, Short sellers, Southeast Asia, Standards, Weak
Wall Street Journal (July 11)
Spurred by Japan’s corporate governance reforms, Nintendo finally relented and committed to broadening its reach to mobile devices. Pokémon Go, one result of this decision, has boosted “the struggling Japanese firm’s market value by $7.5 billion—a turn of corporate fortune with lessons for Japan Inc. …. The fitness-conscious should like a video game that requires players to be active, and Nintendo’s long-suffering shareholders are glad that one of their products is breaking the internet. Here’s hoping other notoriously risk-averse Japanese corporations take the hint.”
Tags: Corporate governance, Japan, Japan Inc., Market value, Mobile, Nintendo, Pokémon Go, Risk-averse, Shareholders, Video game
The Economist (February 13)
Japan’s corporate-governance code emphasizes “shareholder rights and the duty of outside board directors to promote them.” This means Sharp’s external directors will fear “being sued by shareholders if they opted for the INCJ’s much lower bid,” perhaps more than they fear pressure from METI and others to favor the Japanese bid. A deal with “Foxconn would show that Japan is changing its attitude to outsiders. One reason it may come off is that as a failing firm, Sharp matters less for national pride. A foreign takeover of a more successful firm would be different.”
Tags: Corporate governance, Directors, Foxconn, INCJ, Japan, METI, Shareholder rights, Sharp
Bloomberg (July 21)
“Japan’s corporate-governance code, introduced only a month ago, raised hopes that the country’s ossified corporate culture might finally crack open. The $1.2 billion accounting scandal at Toshiba…underscores how much further the country has to go.”
Tags: Accounting, Corporate culture, Corporate governance, Hopes, Japan, Scandal, Toshiba
Wall Street Journal (July 20)
“The Lee family that controls the Samsung conglomerate won its showdown with minority shareholders on Friday, but the vote still represents a watershed for corporate governance in the world’s 14th-largest economy. Though Samsung won, the bell is tolling for South Korea’s chaebol system of corporate control.” The shareholder fight marked “a step forward for corporate reform in Asia” where “a new shareholder class has been mobilized.”
Tags: Asia, Chaebol, Conglomerate, Corporate governance, Lee, Minority shareholders, Samsung, South Korea, Watershed
Financial Times (March 24)
In Hong Kong, the Securities and Futures Commission “will not be able to keep an open mind for very long” on whether to allow dual-class shares. Since 1987, Hong Kong has abided by the “current one-share-one-vote principle.” Citing the weakness of corporate governance in Hong Kong, some investors want to retain the current system, while others are calling for change to better compete with U.S. listings where dual-class shares are allowed.
Tags: Corporate governance, Dual-class shares, Hong Kong, Investors, Listings, Securities and Futures Commission, U.S., Vote
Financial Times (December 8)
“Greater shareholder engagement with quoted companies has been one of the key themes in corporate governance to emerge since the financial crisis” and underpins the UK’s stewardship code for institutional investors. In the U.S. as well, there has been a “recent upsurge in activist investing,” along with “growing demands by long-term institutions for greater input.” This creates potential for progress. “It can only be good that shareholders take an active interest in the businesses in which they invest.”
Tags: Activists, Corporate governance, Engagement, Financial Crisis, Institutional investors, Shareholders, Stewardship code, U.S., UK
Washington Post (July 11)
“The eclipse of the long-term shareholder has been accompanied by the eclipse of the individual shareholder.” Over 90% of shares in U.S. companies were held by individuals in the 1950s when the average share was held 7 years. Today, it’s about 30-35% and just 6 months. Institutional investors now make up the difference, but this raises some problems. “Investment funds that hold shares in many different companies often lack the resources to focus on a single corporation’s performance.” As such, they may not be properly fulfilling their role in ensuring effective corporate governance.
Financial Times (November 27)
Since 2010, chairmen have been required by the UK Code on Corporate Governance to personally report on how the principles relating to the role and effectiveness of the board are being applied. Yet, the “chairmen of FTSE 350 companies are failing to take responsibility for corporate governance, with half making no mention of the issue in their annual report statements according to a review by Grant Thornton.”
Tags: Annual reports, Boards, Chairmen, Corporate governance, FTSE 350, UK
