Skip to content
Wealth
Investing

Japan Fund Manager Mines Online Job Reviews to Pick Investments

  • Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset is turning to alternative data
  • Such information is helping to boost returns, manager says
A Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Tokyo.
A Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Tokyo.

Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

One of Japan’s largest asset managers is dissecting online job reviews to identify quality companies and boost investment returns.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s asset management arm, which oversees 84.8 trillion yen ($591 billion), is increasingly using such information posted on websites to look for companies with sound governance and work practices, said Munehisa Matsumoto, general manager of the research department.