Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group's (TYO:8309) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's (TYO:8306) units are raising their minimum return on equity (ROE) requirements from 5% to 8% for voting on board appointments, Nikkei Asia reported on Monday.

The subsidiaries are Amova Asset Management and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Trust and Banking, the report said.

Amova will reject director nominations if a company's ROE stays below eight for three consecutive years and ranks in the sector's bottom half, unless its price-to-book ratio exceeds one, the news daily said.

As of March, 43% of Prime market firms and 60% of Standard market firms remained below the 8% line, despite Topix 500 companies averaging roughly 10%, the publication said.

An executive at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management noted that rising average ROE has made 8% the new baseline, the report said.

The stricter standards aim to push companies toward better capital efficiency and reduced strategic shareholdings, it added.

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