Staff writer Sweeping financial deregulation in Japan will require fund managers to improve their skills and necessitate a fundamental change in attitude among individual investors, according to the Japanese arm of Boston-based Putnam Investments Inc.
"Investors here tend to take it for granted that they can get high returns even with low risks," said Takehiko Watanabe, managing director and general manager of the Tokyo branch of Putnam Advisory Co., an investment advisory unit of Putnam Investments.
A change in mentality will not only help investors prepare for a comfortable life after retirement in Japan's aging society, it will also prove a boon to Putnam, which manages the American version of investment trusts, also known as mutual funds.