Latest news with #SumitomoMitsuiTrustBank
Japan Times
16 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Japanese companies offer gifts to boost their ranks of loyal retail investors
More Japanese companies are giving gifts at annual general meetings (AGMs) in a practice that could increase the ranks of loyal retail investors as pressure from activist investors grows. The pickup in gifts, from collectibles to food, has been steady. A survey by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank showed 11% of firms offered them at AGMs in 2024, up from 4% in 2021. Companies that gave cash vouchers to vote totaled more than 120 last year, five times the level in 2019, an industry group estimated. Companies are seeking to build shareholder support as activists inundate them with an unprecedented number of proposals. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the government have called for an improvement of valuations and cuts to close ties with other firms in the form of cross-shareholdings. "The underlying idea is to increase the number of 'fan' shareholders who will hold shares over the long term and vote favorably for management,' said Mizuki Suma, head of the legal & governance team at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Tokyo. "When thinking of who to attract after cross shareholders go, it would be the retail investors, the fans." Dan Castellano, a 51-year-old tech worker who has lived in Tokyo for most of his life, was disappointed when he didn't see any gifts at last month's AGM of Hub, an operator of a British style pub chain. A free T-shirt or other collectible would have been nice, he said. But Castellano said he still has ¥25,000 ($171) worth of Hub gift points that give him a strong incentive to hold its stock. The company offers the points based on the number of shares an investor holds. "I get a Hub card for free drinks, which I basically use to treat my friends and to kind of show off my shareholder status,' said Castellano, a follower of Warren Buffett's strategy of investing in understandable businesses. "I like attaching myself to the company, and being a shareholder is a way to do that.' Retail investors tend to vote in favor of the management, said Kunio Marutani, a researcher Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corporation. Some firms hope that through exercising voting rights, individual shareholders will develop a sense of participation in management and hold shares for the long term, he said. While some analysts point out that focusing on shareholder loyalty could distract management from improving corporate governance, the practice may get first-time equity holders more interested in the company's business. Takahiro Shinozaki, a 30-something construction professional who has attended dozens of AGMs in the past, said the meetings give him a chance to learn more about the companies. Shinozaki said he votes for management 90% of the time. "It's important to promote the right to participate in management decisions through the gift vouchers they provide,' said Shinozaki, who often takes a half-day off to attend AGMs. "The proportion of individual shareholders will increase more and more in the future, and retail investors will have a lot more impact.'
Business Times
18 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
Investors wooed with freebies at Japan's shareholder meetings
[TOKYO] More Japanese companies are giving gifts at annual general meetings (AGMs) in a practice that could increase the ranks of loyal retail investors as pressure from activist investors grows. The pickup in gifts, from collectibles to food, has been steady. A survey by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank showed 11 per cent of firms offered them at AGMs in 2024, up from 4 per cent in 2021. Companies that gave cash vouchers to vote totalled more than 120 last year, five times the level in 2019, an industry group estimated. Companies are seeking to build shareholder support as activists inundate them with an unprecedented number of proposals. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the government have called for an improvement of valuations and cuts to close ties with other firms in the form of cross-shareholdings. 'The underlying idea is to increase the number of 'fan' shareholders who will hold shares over the long term and vote favourably for management,' said Mizuki Suma, head of the legal & governance team at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Tokyo. 'When thinking of who to attract after cross shareholders go, it would be the retail investors, the fans.' Dan Castellano, a 51-year-old tech worker who has lived in Tokyo for most of his life, was disappointed when he did not see any gifts at last month's AGM of HUB, an operator of a British style pub chain. A free T-shirt or other collectible would have been nice, he said. But Castellano said he still has 25,000 yen (S$220) worth of HUB gift points that give him a strong incentive to hold its stock. The company offers the points based on the number of shares an investor holds. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'I get a HUB card for free drinks which I basically use to treat my friends and to kind of show off my shareholder status,' said Castellano, a follower of Warren Buffett's strategy of investing in understandable businesses. 'I like attaching myself to the company and being a shareholder is a way to do that.' Retail investors tend to vote in favour of the management, said Kunio Marutani, a researcher at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corporation. Some firms hope that through exercising voting rights, individual shareholders will develop a sense of participation in management and hold shares for the long term, he said. While some analysts point out that focusing on shareholder loyalty could distract management from improving corporate governance, the practice may get first-time equity holders more interested in the company's business. Takahiro Shinozaki, a 30-something construction professional who has attended dozens of AGMs in the past, said the meetings give him a chance to learn more about the companies. Shinozaki said he votes for management 90 per cent of the time. 'It's important to promote the right to participate in management decisions through the gift vouchers they provide,' said Shinozaki, who often takes a half-day off to attend AGMs. 'The proportion of individual shareholders will increase more and more in the future, and retail investors will have a lot more impact.' BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg
19 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Investors Wooed With Freebies at Japan's Shareholder Meetings
More Japanese companies are giving gifts at annual general meetings in a practice that could increase the ranks of loyal retail investors as pressure from activist investors grows. The pickup in gifts, from collectibles to food, has been steady. A survey by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank showed 11% of firms offered them at AGMs in 2024, up from 4% in 2021. Companies that gave cash vouchers to vote totaled more than 120 last year, five times the level in 2019, an industry group estimated.
02-06-2025
- Business
2-Yr-Sentence Sought for Ex-Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Worker
News from Japan Society Jun 2, 2025 16:32 (JST) Tokyo, June 2 (Jiji Press)--Prosecutors sought a two-year prison term for a former Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank employee in an insider trading trial on Monday. In their closing argument at Tokyo District Court, prosecutors pointed out that when he was in the bank the defendant, Hajime Katayama, 55, took the advantage of his position as a securities transfer agency business director to repeat stock transactions based on information about clients and gained some 29.3 million yen in profit. Then they demanded that Katayama be imprisoned for two years, fined 2 million yen and ordered to forfeit additional 61.4 million yen, calling him a habitual, malicious offender with a strong criminal intent. "There is no room for clemency," they stressed. Meanwhile, the defense in its final plea called for a cut in the penalty money and a suspended sentence, insisting that Katayama's case be treated as a voluntary surrender because he reported the illegal transactions to the Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office before they came to light. The defendant, who has already admitted to violating the financial instruments and exchange law, said, "I'm sorry for causing a big trouble." [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Japan Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Japanese life insurers cut bullish yen hedges to 14-year low
Japanese life insurers cut protection for their foreign assets against a stronger yen to a fresh 14-year low, signaling subdued expectations of a sustained rally in the nation's currency. Nine of Japan's biggest life insurers collectively lowered bullish yen wagers tied to their foreign investment holdings to 44.4% at the end of the fiscal half in March, compared with 45.2% six months earlier, according to an analysis of their earnings reports. While U.S. President Donald Trump's administration's unpredictable policymaking has stoked foreign exchange market volatility, that wasn't enough to stop a three-year decline in yen hedging. The Bank of Japan's policy interest rate is still 3 percentage points lower than the nation's inflation rate, with the next potential hike seen further delayed. The continued decline in hedging suggests "life insurers see a lower likelihood of the yen showing the kind of strength it did in the past, and feel a need to hold unhedged overseas bonds to maintain exposure to foreign exchange risks,' said Ayako Sera, a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Tokyo. "The yen's real interest rates are just too low.' Still-high currency hedging costs are also weighing on life insurers' demand for overseas debt. Japan's 10-year notes yield more than 150 basis points on a compounded basis, much more than counterparts in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia once foreign exchange protection costs are taken into account, data shows. Life insurers offloaded a net ¥756 billion ($5.3 billion) worth of foreign bonds in the six months through March 31, Finance Ministry data showed. That marks the seventh consecutive such period of sales. Insurers dumped a net ¥21.2 billion of overseas stocks in the October-March period after buying ¥1.06 trillion in the six months through Sept. 30. A gauge that measures the yen's strength against currencies of Japan's major trading partners rose to a six-month high at the time amid broad weakness in the greenback. But the currency failed to hold gains and finished the second half of the fiscal year 1.6% lower as the BOJ added a reference to trade policies to its list of risks to the outlook for the economy and inflation. The likelihood of an interest-rate hike shrank further as the central bank this month delayed the expected timeline for reaching its inflation target. Overnight-indexed swaps signal a 64% chance of the central bank raising interest rates by 25 basis points by the end of the year. At the end of January, markets were fully expecting a quarter point hike or more by December. The yen's nominal effective exchange rate has edged up 0.8% since March 31. Asset managers and leveraged funds collectively boosted net yen longs to a record via futures and options earlier this month amid speculation the Trump administration's tariff policy will hit the global economy and fuel demand for haven assets. Unhedged positions risk causing losses should a drop in foreign currencies wipe out capital and income gains from overseas assets. That may prompt life insurers to rush for currency hedging, in turn exacerbating the slump in foreign currencies against the yen. Swaps, meanwhile, indicate an 83% chance of the U.S. Federal Reserve resuming rate cuts as early as September. Lower U.S. interest rates typically help reduce dollar hedge costs for Japanese investors, which are largely driven by the rate gap between the two economies. For this reason, "I see a rebound in demand for currency hedges going forward,' said Tsuyoshi Ueno, executive research fellow at NLI Research Institute in Tokyo.
