The Board Director Training Institute of Japan

BDTI CEO, Proposer of  Japan's Governance Code, The Board Director Training Institute of Japan

Nicholas Benes

Mr. Benes is is the Representative Directors of The Board Director Training Institute of Japan. He received his B.A. in political science from Stanford University, and a JD-MBA degree from UCLA. He then worked at JP Morgan for 11 years and went on to lead a pathbreaking M&A advisory boutique in Japan, JTP Corporation.  He is an inactive member of the bar in California and New York. In the past, he served as a twice-elected Governor of the ACCJ, Chair of the ACCJ’s FDI Committee and FDI Task Force, and as a member of the Experts Committee of the Japan Investment Council, an advisory committee to the Japanese Cabinet on FDI policy. He has also served as an independent outside director at Alps Mapping, the listed company Cecile Ltd., Livedoor Holdings (post-scandal);  and Imagica Group (6879). He currently serves on the board of Advantest (8657)   In 2010, he was a member of the Financial Services Agency’s Corporate Governance Liaison Committee, which had been formed to provide private sector input to the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Affairs Advisory Council regarding amendment of Japan’s Company Law. In 2013, he proposed that the creation of a corporate governance code be included in the LDP’s growth strategy, to be implemented under the auspices of the FSA.  He then advised members of the diet and the FSA, with regard to the drafting process and the content of Japan’s first corporate governance code. He also later seeded a variety of other reforms, including inclusion of principles about diversity and corporate pension governance in the governance code.

BDTI CEO, Proposer of  Japan's Governance Code

Structural Reform in Japanese Financial Markets

Whither Governance in Japan? Part 2- How the Code Is Intended to Function

The Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI), a non-profit Japanese “public interest” organization certified by the government, was established in 2009 by experts and opinion leaders active in academic and business circles. BDTI’s mission is to increase trust between corporations and the public, and facilitate the safe, sustainable and ethical development of the Japanese economy and Japanese companies, by improving corporate governance and accelerating the spread of effective management methods.  We believe that director training is the key to doing these things while also enhancing corporate value.

Japan has made significant steps forward in promulgating a stewardship code and a corporate governance code. Change and differentiation between companies (leaders vs. laggards) will accelerate from this point on; it is already accelerating.  But how much impact will be made by the new "comply or explain"-based, potentially vastly-expanded disclosure regime, and menu of best practices that are being encouraged, will largely depend on how much investing institutions are willing to do the hard work of analyzing and comparing all this new information, assessing its true substance vs. the lack thereof, and proactively communicating with portfolio companies the kind of concrete practices and robust disclosure they would like to see next.  This Insight will be a series focusing on various issues that need to be understood and discussed deeply going forward, and will affect this process and the future evolution of governance in Japan  Introduction: (First in a Series):   The Background, and the Big-Picture Problems

Japan has made significant steps forward in promulgating a stewardship code and a corporate governance code. Change and differentiation between companies (leaders vs. laggards) will accelerate from this point on; it is already accelerating.  But how much impact will be made by the new "comply or explain"-based, potentially vastly-expanded disclosure regime, and menu of best practices that are being encouraged, will largely depend on how much investing institutions are willing to do the hard work of analyzing and comparing all this new information, assessing its true substance vs. the lack thereof, and proactively communicating with portfolio companies the kind of concrete practices and robust disclosure they would like to see next.  This Insight will be a series focusing on various issues that need to be understood and discussed deeply going forward, and will affect this process and the future evolution of governance in Japan  Introduction: (First in a Series):   The Background, and the Big-Picture Problems 

Corporate Governance in Japan: Where Will It Go from Here? Where Should It?　(Part 1 of a Series)

Toyota Motor

Corporate Governance in Japan: Where Will It Go from Here? Where Should It? (Part 1 of a Series)

Corporate Governance in Japan: Where Will It Go from Here? Where Should It?　(Part 1 of a Series)