New development in the Japanese corporate governance in the 1990s - the role of corporate pension funds

摘要

In recent years, there has been a slow but steady change in ownership structures and corporate governance in Japan. As a result of economic stagnation, relations between companies characterised by cross-shareholdings and the main-bank system have become less rigid and institutional investors show increasing shareholder activism. This paper investigates the role of corporate pension funds in this process. Major trust banks and life insurance companies which act as trustees of pension funds are becoming more and more concerned with shareholder value. However, as will be demonstrated, this does not mean a transition from a relationship-oriented system to a pure market-based one. Instead, due to differences in the regulatory framework and schemes of corporate pension funds, but also due to differences in corporate relationships, there is rather a tendency towards convergence to a "communication-based" system with institutional investors taking the role of information intermediaries for their customers.