Japan needs real merger reform and disclosure

This article appears courtesy of International Financial Law Review

If legislators proposed a reform to restore a level competitive playing field, but then immediately grabbed back 99.8% of it in the fine print and continued discriminating against a section of the market, it would be very difficult to trust them again.

But this is what Japan is poised to do with its foreign direct investment (FDI) policy and its laws governing so-called cross-border stock swaps. It is an exceedingly poor way to attract investment.