An inside view of a Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank branch in Osaka (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
When Japan’s Honda Motor Co. Ltd. stopped using Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. as its stock transfer agent last year, the lender slapped it with a roughly $4 million termination fee, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The break fee 2,000 yen ($19) per shareholder is a little-known practice among Japan’s biggest trust banks when they lose a client in the shareholder record-keeping business, multiple insiders say.
The bank that takes the new client typically pays the fee. Insiders say this arrangement keeps a profitable business in the hands of a few big trust banks because newcomers balk at the cost. One departing client was told the charge was an “industry custom.”
Jan 28, 2021
Sydney/Tokyo – The idea of a four-day workweek has increasingly been embraced by businesses inside and outside Japan during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Unilever New Zealand has introduced the system as part of a one-year experiment, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc., one of Japan’s three megabanks, launched similar work arrangements in December.
While the emerging trend reflects that employers are becoming more engaged with improving their workers’ productivity and life balance, it is receiving additional help from the pandemic.
Unilever New Zealand has allowed all of its 81 employees to work one day fewer per week without a cut in salary during the experiment.
4-day workweek gaining traction as business responds to pandemic
January 25, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
This photo shows Unilever New Zealand s office in Auckland. (Photo courtesy of Unilever New Zealand/Kyodo) SYDNEY/TOKYO (Kyodo) A four-day workweek has increasingly been embraced by businesses inside and outside Japan during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Unilever New Zealand has introduced the system as part of a one-year experiment, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc., one of Japan s three megabanks, launched similar work arrangements in December. While the emerging trend reflects that employers are becoming more engaged with improving their workers productivity and life balance, it is receiving additional help from the pandemic.