Shinsei board member says the bank needs to improve performance

Shinsei Bank Ltd. needs to double down on efforts to improve its performance, even if shareholders reject a hostile takeover bid from SBI Holdings Inc., according to a board member of the Japanese lender.

The brokerage’s $1.1 billion offer has brought attention to Shinsei’s "business model, public money and low valuation,” Jun Makihara said in an interview. "It won’t simply return to the way it was managed before.”

"We shoulder responsibility now to make more efforts to boost the share price,” including by pursuing partnerships, said Makihara, one of five independent directors who sit on Shinsei’s seven-member board. The bank is also open to alliance talks with SBI even if the brokerage withdraws its offer, he said.