Olympus unveils new management - FT.com Olympus has unveiled major changes to its top management, including the appointment of outsiders as chairman, and to a majority of directorships, as it seeks to restore public trust following a damaging accounting scandal. The Japanese camera maker said on Monday that Yasuyuki Kimoto, a director at Sumitomo Mitsui Bank, the company's biggest creditor, would become chairman, while Hiroyuki Sasa, an Olympus executive officer, would be promoted to president. The appointments, which had been widely reported by Japanese media, must be ratified at a shareholders" meeting scheduled for April. Shuichi Takayama, Olympus" caretaker president, plans to resign along with 14 other directors and three statutory auditors, after a civil investigation commissioned by the company issued a damning report in December accusing management of being "rotten at the core." Of the 15 directors and auditors on the new board, 11 will be from outside the company, compared with five previously. Independent directors include current and former executives of Mitsubishi UFJ bank, Kao, Asahi Kasei, Itochu and other blue-chip Japanese companies. One auditor hails from Nippon Life, an insurer that is also a major Olympus shareholder. In spite of the increase in the number of outsiders, the changes are likely to leave some investors unhappy. Foreign shareholders, in particular, have complained that the interests of banks and insurance companies with financial ties to Olympus may conflict with those of other investors. They worry that bank-nominated executives lacking experience managing a manufacturer would be unable to provide the strategic leadership Olympus needs. Foreign shareholders collectively own about 20 per cent of the company and could vote against the appointments at the April meeting. Earlier this month, Japanese authorities arrested seven people in connection with the Olympus scandal, including a former chairman and outside financial advisers. The company has admitted that it secretly moved more than Y100bn ($1.3bn) of securities-related investment losses off its books over the years, then used acquisitions as cover to square the hidden accounts. Including money that the advisers kept in return for their services, roughly Y135bn was "appropriated to maintain the scheme," the company-commissioned probe concluded. Additional reporting by Michiyo Nakamoto