The Company conducts a diverse range of business globally. Accordingly, the Company has established a corporate audit governance model of a Company with auditors in which the Board of Directors consisting of Internal Directors and Outside Directors has been established in order to ensure rapid and efficient decision-making and appropriate supervisory functions in management. The Company has determined that this governance model is functioning effectively as set forth in items (a) and (b) below. Therefore, the Company will retain the current governance structure.
The Company ensures rapid and efficient decision-making by appointing Directors who serve concurrently as Executive Officers and are well-versed in the Company’s diverse business activities.
The Company ensures appropriate aim for development that is in harmony supervisory functions by implementing various measures, including appointing Outside Directors that account for the majority of candidates for the Board of Directors; establishing the Audit & Supervisory Board Member’s Office; fostering collaboration among the Audit & Supervisory Board Members, the Audit Department and the Accounting Auditor; and carrying out advance briefings, on the same occasion, on matters referred to the Board of Directors for both Outside Directors and Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Members.
The Board of Directors comprises 11 Directors (including seven Outside Directors; eight males and three females), and makes decisions regarding management policy and other important matters and supervises the execution of duties by Directors.
To clearly segregate management and execution, the Chairman of the Board without representative rights and the authority for business execution, in principle, chairs the Board of Directors Meetings.
In FY2024, the Board of Directors met 15 times to make decisions regarding execution of duties by the Corporation and all members of the Board of Directors were present at all meetings during their terms of office, excluding Mr. Hisayoshi Ando and Ms. Kana Odawara, who were absent for 1 meeting each. In FY2024, the Board of Directors mainly deliberated as below:
The Audit & Supervisory Board comprises five Audit & Supervisory Board Members (including three Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Members; 3 males and 2 females), and Mr. Takao Ando, a Full-time Audit & Supervisory Board Member, serves as the chair. The Company adopts a corporate audit governance system and each of the Audit & Supervisory Board Members is responsible for overseeing Directors in the execution of their duties by attending important meetings, such as the Board of Directors Meetings, and by monitoring business activities and financial conditions in accordance with the auditing policies and plans set by the Audit & Supervisory Board.
In principle, the Audit & Supervisory Board Members and the Accounting Auditor exchange information and their opinions concerning, for instance, audit plans, audit status and results of the Corporation and the group companies (including interim review), each audit matter (including selection of key audit matters), important aspects of the financial results, and trends on accounting audits, etc. at monthly meetings. The Company’s Accounting Auditor for FY2024 was Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC. The Audit & Supervisory Board Members and the Audit Department, a department which performs internal audits, exchange information and their opinions concerning, for instance, internal audit plans and the Corporation’s and its group companies’ internal audit results and status of the internal control over financial reporting, etc. at regular meetings (7 times a year). In FY2024, the Audit & Supervisory Board met 18 times, and all Audit & Supervisory Board Members were present at all meetings of the Audit & Supervisory Board during their terms of office.
The President and CEO holds meetings with the Audit & Supervisory Board Members on a regular basis, reports on execution of duties, and exchange opinions. Other Directors, CHRO, CSO, CFO, CAO, CDIO, Members of Corporate Management Committee, Supervisors, Division COOs, and Corporate Staff Group General Managers report their duty execution status to the Audit & Supervisory Board Members every year. Officers immediately report to the Audit & Supervisory Board Members when they discover that there is a concern that the Company will suffer significant damage.
The Corporate Management Committee is an advisory committee for the President and CEO and consists of the President and CEO (Representative Director), the Senior Executive Vice President (Representative Director), four Senior Managing Executive Officers (including one Representative Director), and four Managing Executive Officers. It deliberates management-related policies and important company-wide matters.
The members of the Committee of Chief Operating Officers are the President and CEO, alongside Executive Officers and Chief Operating Officers appointed by the President and CEO.They discuss matters pertaining to budgeting, account settlement and financial planning as well as other issues related to the execution of business.
The Committee of Executive Officers consists of 41 Executive Officers (three of whom also serve as Director) and communicates management information and gives reports on matters that affect business execution such as financial performance and results of internal audits.
The memberships of the committee are composed so as to ensure independence, as Independent Outside Directors/Audit & Supervisory Board Members constitute the majority of the members and the committee is chaired by an Independent Outside Director as well. The Nomination Committee mainly deliberates on proposals regarding the selection of candidates for Director and Audit & Supervisory Board Member, proposals regarding the selection of the President and CEO for the next term, and successor plans formulated and operated by the President and CEO (including plans related to necessary qualities and requirements, successor candidate groups, and training), and reports to the Board of Directors. In FY2024, nine Committee meetings were held for deliberations regarding candidates proposed for appointment as Directors and Audit & Supervisory Board Members and as the next President and CEO, etc.
Committee’s Members: President and CEO, Outside Directors 2Chairperson: Outside Director
The memberships of the committee are composed so as to ensure independence, as Independent Outside Directors/Audit & Supervisory Board Members constitute the majority of the members and the committee is chaired by an Independent Outside Director as well. The Governance and Remuneration Committee deliberates on the policy for determining remuneration for Directors and Executive Officers as well as appropriateness of the level of remuneration, and reports to the Board of Directors. Furthermore, it deliberates on important matters related to corporate governance and conducts assessments and reviews of the Board of Directors as a whole, including on its structure, operation, etc., and reports thereon to the Board of Directors. In FY2024, three Committee meetings were held for deliberations regarding remuneration for Directors and Executive Officers, review of compensation plans, evaluation of the effectiveness of the Board of Directors, and disclosure of information on Directors/Audit & Supervisory Board Members (including improvement of the disclosure of their skill matrix).
Committee’s Members: President and CEO, Inside Director 1, Outside Director 1, Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Members 2Chairperson: Outside Director
The Company has established various committees as an organization directly under the President and CEO for dealing with important matters related to business execution and internal control, etc.The main committees and their roles are as follows:
Outside Directors offer opinions on business management drawn from their broad experience and high-level perspective, and give advice to better implement corporate governance.Outside Directors attend the meetings of the Board of Directors and the Committee of Executive Officers, making active contributions from the perspective of internal control. Prior to meetings, Outside Directors are provided with agendas and fully briefed on management issues and project execution status. Two of the Outside Directors are members of the Governance and Remuneration Committee (one is the chairman) and three are members of the Nomination Committee (one is the chairman).
Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Members monitor the Directors’ execution of duties and draw upon their wealth of professional expertise to offer various recommendations and advice to enhance the Audit & Supervisory Board.Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Members attend meetings of the Audit & Supervisory Board and also the Board of Directors and Committee of Executive Officers. In addition, the Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Members meet with the President and CEO on a regular basis, as well as with members of the Audit Department, Corporate Accounting Department, and outside auditors, for an exchange of opinions. They receive audit-related information from Full-time Audit & Supervisory Board Members, which they use in the execution of their auditing duties. Two of the Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Members are also members of the Governance and Remuneration Committee.
Overview of the Corporation’s policy from FY2025 to determine the remuneration and other payments for Directors are as follows.
1. Remuneration PolicyThe remuneration for Directors of the Corporation is determined based on the following approach.
2. Remuneration frameworkThe recipients of each type of remuneration and other payments are determined by his/her expected role. Please refer to the table below for details.
3. Remuneration levels and composition ratioTo ensure that remuneration levels of Directors are competitive so as to secure and maintain excellent human capital, the remuneration levels are examined by comparing them with objective research data on remuneration provided by outside specialized organizations and other sources to determine the appropriate remuneration levels. The composition ratio of remuneration and other payments focuses on the medium- and long-term improvement of corporate value. For the President and CEO, the composition ratio of monthly remuneration, the short-term incentive remuneration and the medium- and long-term incentive remuneration shall generally be set at 1:1:1 when consolidated net profit is 400 billion yen and core operating cash flow is 500 billion yen. For other internal Directors, the composition ratio of remuneration shall be set in accordance with the composition ratio of remuneration for the President and CEO, taking into account the role and responsibilities of each position.
4. Malus and clawbackThe short-term and the medium- and long-term incentive remuneration shall be subject to clauses that allow the Corporation to reduce or cancel the remuneration (malus) and request the return of the paid remuneration (clawback) based on a resolution of the Board of Directors when there is a restatement of financial results due to a significant revision of financial statements or there is a significant violation or breach of internal rules by a Director/officer.
5. Method to determine the remuneration and other payments for individual DirectorsAs for the policy to determine the remuneration and other payments for Directors (including the method to determine individual payments; the “Determination Policy”), the Governance and Remuneration Committee, which is chaired by an Outside Director with the majority of its members consisting of independent Outside Directors/Audit & Supervisory Board Members deliberates on the Determination Policy, including the appropriateness of the remuneration levels, and provides reports to the Board of Directors, which then makes a decision thereon.As for the determination of individual payments for Directors, the Governance and Remuneration Committee confirms whether the determination conforms to the Determination Policy and provides reports to the Board of Directors, which then resolves the payment within the range of the maximum amount of remuneration resolved at a General Meeting of Shareholders. However, as for the amount of basic remuneration for Directors with positions that do not have fixed remuneration amount corresponding to the positions and individuals’ evaluation-based remuneration in the short-term incentive remuneration, the determination of payment for individual quantitative evaluation has been delegated to the President and CEO because the person at the head of business execution is considered to be the most appropriate person for making the decision that involves individual judgments based on the evaluation of contributions and the positions/responsibilities. To improve the objectiveness, fairness and transparency of the process to determine the amount of the Individuals’ evaluation-based remuneration based on the individuals’ qualitative evaluation, the Governance and Remuneration Committee shall confirm that the evaluation and the payment have been conducted within the scope delegated by the Board of Directors, and report the results to the Board of Directors.
Regarding the remuneration and other payments for individual Directors for FY2024, since the determination of the amount of the Individual’s evaluation based remuneration based on the individual’s quantitative evaluation as is the Short-term incentive remuneration were delegated to the then President and CEO Masumi Kakinoki based on the policy to determine the remuneration and other payments for Directors prior to the amendment on March 26, 2025 and the Governance and Remuneration Committee deliberates on whether it conforms to the Determination Policy and provides reports to the Board of Directors, the Board of Directors also respects the reports and judges that the payments conform to the Determination Policy.
(Supplementary matters)The remuneration framework and process for determining remuneration for Executive Officers who do not concurrently serve as Directors is the same as those for Directors.
The remuneration and other payments for Directors and that for Audit & Supervisory Board Members for FY2024 (including the amount of monetary remuneration claims to be paid, and the total number of the Corporation’s common stock to be issued or disposed of, for granting “Restricted Shares” and “TSR-linked Performance-based Restricted Share Units”) has been determined as follows by the resolutions at the 99th Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders.
Regarding the “[Former plan] Market Capitalization-linked Performance-based Restricted Share Units” introduced at the 97th Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders held on June 24, 2021, for those whose rights had been granted by FY2022, the annual amount of within 120 million yen resolved at that General Meeting of Shareholders (the upper limit of the Corporation’s common stock to be issued or disposed of shall be within 300,000 shares during each evaluation period) has been maintained, and the amount of the remuneration has been included in the amount of remuneration for granting the above TSR-linked Performance-based Restricted Share Units.
Since FY2016, the Corporation has conducted annual evaluations of its Board of Directors’ effectiveness and implemented improvements to address issues identified through rigorous analysis.The evaluations of the Board’s effectiveness in FY2024 (the “FY2024 Board Evaluation”) built upon the FY2023 concept of “the ideal governance structure suitable for Marubeni” to enable the Board to discuss the structure of the governance frameworks suitable for the Corporation and will support the successful implementation of the Mid-Term Management Strategy GC2027, taking into consideration the discussions from FY2023.
The Board of Directors, including the Governance and Remuneration Committee and the Nomination Committee
Like past Board evaluations, the Corporation appointed an independent specialized organization. Utilizing the independent specialized organization, the Governance and Remuneration Committee performed the analysis and evaluations based on advanced document inspection, as well as responses to the questionnaire and interviews.
The independent specialized organization mainly gave the following supports:
The Governance and Remuneration Committee ensured the questionnaire and interviews were conducted and the results analyzed and evaluated on an anonymous basis by the independent specialized organization, thereby maintaining the transparency and objectiveness of the FY2024 Board Evaluation.
Through the evaluation process above, it has been confirmed that the Corporation’s Board of Directors operates effectively with appropriate functionality. Particularly strong areas include:
Based on the FY2024 Board Evaluation results, the Corporation will continue to work on maintaining and improving the Board effectiveness going forward to drive long-term corporate value enhancement.