Biz leaders wow to restore trust after scandals in 2017

January 5, 2018

Tokyo- Leaders of Japanese companies engulfed by scandals in 2017 vowed to strengthen compliance and restore trust in their companies, in their New Year's remarks made Thursday. "We face the fact that trust in our management has been badly damaged and work hard to regain it," said Akihiro Nikkaku, president of major textile maker Toray Industries Inc. , which was hit by a product data falsification scandal at a subsidiary. "Safety, compliance and quality must be prioritized over profits," said Akira Takeuchi, president of Mitsubishi Materials Corp. , whose subsidiaries were also found to have conducted data manipulation. Among leaders of the major construction firms under antitrust investigations over the magnetic levitation train line project in central Japan, Taisei Corp. President Yoshiyuki Murata pledged to "enforce compliance throughout the company." Meanwhile, Masayoshi Son, chairman of Softbank Group Corp., expressed the Internet and telecommunications group's readiness to deepen collaboration with domestic and overseas partners in new business fields, including automated driving. "Revolutions driven by technological innovation will accelerate further," Son stressed. Seven & i Holdings Co. President Ryuichi Isaka voiced the retail giant's eagerness to promote the introduction of information technology. "We're entering a revolutionary phase in which every product and service will be renewed," he said. Hit by ultralow interest rates under the Bank of Japan's massive monetary-easing policy, banks are eager to promote the use of information technology in financial services, or fintech. "We face the need to carry out future-oriented reforms, with a strong sense of crisis," Japanese Bankers Association Chairman Nobuyuki Hirano said. Jiji Press