1. Finalization of Japan’s Stewardship Code (Revised Version) and Summary of Public Comments
The Council of Experts on the Stewardship Code (hereafter, the “Council”) (Chairman: Hiroyuki Kansaku, Professor, University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics) discussed the revision of “Principles for Responsible Institutional Investors ≪Japan’s Stewardship Code≫” (hereafter, the “Code”) from January 2017, and developed an exposure draft of the revised version of the Code this March.
The Council then published the draft of the revised version of the Code and solicited comments from March 28 until April 27, 2017 (as for the English translation, until May 8, 2017).
The Council received comments to the Japanese draft from 18 individuals/entities and from 11 individuals/entities to the English translation. The Council expresses its gratitude to those who submitted comments.
Based on the received comments, the Council finalized the revised Code (hereafter, the “revised Code”). The final version of the revised Code (English translation) is provided in Appendix 1. The revised Code with track changes from the previous version of the Code (English translation) is provided in Appendix 2.
The summary of comments received and the Council’s view on them has been posted in Japanese and will soon be published in English as well.
2. Next steps for institutional investors in accordance with the revised Code
2.1 To institutional investors who are currently signatories of the previous version of the Code
Institutional investors who are currently signatories of the previous version of the Code are expected to update disclosure items based on the principles, including guidance, of the Code (hereafter, the “disclosure items”), in accordance with the revised Code within 6 months (November-end 2017) after the revision of the Code. Also, institutional investors are expected (to disclose and) to notify the Financial Services Agency (FSA) (jstewardship@fsa.go.jp) of such updates if they take place (7. of “Revision of the Stewardship Code” in the revised Code). Please see Appendix 3 for details.
2.2 To institutional investors who intend to newly sign up for the revised Code
Institutional investors who support the revised Code and are prepared to accept it are expected to publicly disclose their intention (Preamble 11. of the revised Code).The FSA adds names of institutional investors who have notified the FSA of their intention to accept the revised Code to the published list when it receives notifications of acceptance of the revised Code from institutional investors. Those who intend to newly sign up for the revised Code are invited to notify the FSA (jstewardship@fsa.go.jp) of their intention as well as the institution’s name, name of the person in charge, contact information (email address), and address of the website (the URL) of the announcement of the acceptance of the revised Code and the disclosure items described in the revised Code. Please see Appendix 3 for details.
(Appendix 1) Principles for Responsible Institutional Investors ≪Japan’s Stewardship Code≫ (English translation of the revised Code)
(Appendix 2) The revised Code with track changes from the previous version of the Code
(Appendix 3) Additional information expected to be disclosed along with the revision of Japan’s Stewardship Code
