Activists

This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Part 1 covered the June 2026 Code revision and the ¥126 trillion ($840bn) cash question. Part 1 described the revised Corporate Governance Code – what it asks companies to prove. This article covers what happens to those that do not comply. There are two sources of pressure. The first is structural: a multi-year reconstitution of the TOPIX index that will eject roughly 500 companies by July 2028. The second is behavioural: an activist and institutional investor community that submitted a record 399 shareholder proposals in the 2025 AGM season and is preparing for a 2026 season that falls immediately after the Code revision. ...

The previous article established the diagnosis. Ninety-nine listed banks, a population shrinking by 900,000 a year, deposit growth at a crawl, non-interest income effectively negative after stripping out equity sales. The patient is stable but deteriorating. This article is about who is reaching for the scalpel. The regulatory starting gun In 2020, the Japan Fair Trade Commission lifted the antimonopoly barriers to same-prefecture bank mergers. The exemption runs for ten years. The clock expires in 2030. ...