Shut out short-term investors, Japan told

Tokyo

YOSHIHIKO Miyauchi, who ran Orix Corp for more than 30 years, says Japan must discriminate against short-term shareholders. The nation should allow listed firms to strip voting rights from institutions that haven't held shares for a certain time, according to the 79-year-old, who co-founded the US$19.3 billion financial group in 1964 and is now its senior chairman. He suggested a period of about three years. Such an approach would be unprecedented in global developed equity markets.

Mr Miyauchi sees shutting out some stock owners as the next stage in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to get companies and investors to work more closely together. A government report on Japan's financial markets, published last year, takes aim at everyone from fund managers to executives and equity analysts for their short-term focus. Governance advocates acknowledge the problem and disagree with Mr Miyauchi on how to fix it, saying a three-year standdown on voting rights is too long.