Satsuki Katayama, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s financial research, said that the Kishida administration’s review of the quarterly disclosure system for companies “is not intended to reduce the amount of corporate disclosure.” Disclosure of ESG (environment, society, corporate governance) related information such as salaries by gender should be promoted.
In an interview with Bloomberg on the 21st, Mr. Katayama pointed out that being too obsessed with quarterly disclosure is “good for the long-term growth of the company.” “It’s better to inflate non-financial information to understand the contents of the company,” he said. It is “meaningful to do” in aiming for the “new capitalism” that the administration advocates.
Even if a review is made, it is expected to be disclosed at least semi-annually. It is necessary to amend the law to realize it, but the Diet is not planning to submit the amendment bill, so we will proceed with “discussion of direction” first.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has asked companies to manage their businesses from a long-term perspective, and has pledged to review quarterly disclosures from the LDP presidential election. In the policy speech on the 17th, in addition to formulating rules for disclosure of non-financial information within this year with the aim of strengthening human investment by companies, it reiterated that it will “review quarterly disclosure.” The government will consider it at the Financial Services Agency’s Financial Council.
Tokyo Stock Exchange (January 13)
Photographer: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg
Regarding quarterly disclosure, the “Future Investment Strategy” announced in 2017 under the Abe administration also clarified that the pros and cons of mandatory disclosure will be verified. A report by the Financial Council, released the following year, concluded that “we will not review the quarterly disclosure system at this time” because it may affect the competitiveness of capital markets.
Mr. Katayama hopes that the discussion will progress under the Kishida administration, saying, “The times have changed and there is an initiative of the administration” from the previous discussion. The review positions the new capitalism as a “symbol” to show the market, but even if it is no longer obligatory, “Companies listed overseas or have many overseas shareholders will continue to disclose.” rice field.
Quarterly disclosure has been gradually obliged by the Tokyo Stock Exchange for listed companies since 1999, and was enacted in 2008 by the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. In the United States as well, at the request of former President Trump, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has temporarily considered reviewing the frequency of financial statements since 2018.
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