Masamoto Yashiro

By Jim Frederick/Tokyo

When U.S. Investment Group, led by U.S.-based Ripplewood Holdings, bought the bankrupt Long Term Credit Bank in 2000 and tapped Masamoto Yashiro to run it, he set out to revolutionize the industry. Since taking the helm of the bank--renamed Shinsei, or Rebirth--Yashiro, 75, has presided over one of the most successful turnarounds in Japanese corporate history. With 30 years experience at Exxon and nine more at Citibank, Yashiro has never been a member of Japan's insular financial community. "I don't follow the Japanese way of doing things," he says. Yashiro talks about competition, profitability and performance--words rarely heard until recently among Japanese bankers. At Shinsei, Yashiro abolished promotions and raises based on seniority, the rigid classification of employees according to education and the hierarchical wearing of uniforms by the assistant-level "office ladies" at company headquarters. Then he really took on Japan's business practices. Employing un-Japanese ruthlessness, he slashed the bad-loan ratio to 5.7%, down from 20%, and then launched service-oriented new products. "We had to change our mind-set," he says. "You have to look for solutions to [customers'] problems." Oh, yeah, Yashiro makes money too. The bank's profits jumped 25% last year, to $637 million. "Things are changing in Japan," he says. "A little too slowly for my liking, but they are changing." By Jim Frederick/Tokyo