Japan boards face pressure over diversity

Targeting equality: An electronic display showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo. More companies on the index have been adding women to their boards under pressure from investors such as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs. — AP

TOKYO: Japanese companies may struggle to meet rising expectations from global institutional investors amid change in board-diversity standards, according to the latest report on Japanese corporates by MSCI ESG Research.

Just one-tenth of MSCI Japan Index firms have reached the 30% female board member threshold that the government is seeking for top-listed businesses, according to Moeko Porter, the author of the report.