Japan Risk & Compliance Statistics

Key findings

Half of Japanese organizations are ranked at a high maturity level

To help determine the state of programs in 2025, NAVEX asked respondents to self-report their risk and compliance (R&C) program maturity based on the Framework for Ethics & Compliance Program Excellence criteria from the Ethics and Compliance Initiative (ECI). This five-point scale begins at the least mature, “Underdeveloped,” and advances in maturity through the stages of “Defining,” “Adapting,” “Managing” and, finally, “Optimizing.” It is worthy of note that there is no “end” to the spectrum – even the most mature programs have room to refine their approach. 

Fifty percent of respondents representing organizations based in the Japan said their R&C program was either Managing or Optimizing – the two most mature designations on the ECI scale. Twenty-three percent said it was Defining or Underdeveloped – the two least-mature designations. For the U.S., 57% were said to be in the more mature designations, with 17% in the less mature designations. Globally, 57% of organizations were said to be at a top-two maturity level, and 18% in the lower two.

‘Privacy/cybersecurity breach’ most common compliance issue for Japan

Consistent with previous polling, data privacy/cybersecurity breaches remain the top compliance issue respondents said their organizations experienced in the past three years. Still, nuances remain that may help readers better understand how they compare to regional peers. 

For example, for organizations in Japan, 20% of respondents said they had experienced adverse media coverage of a compliance issue in the past three years. This compares to 13% for the U.S., and 14% globally. Forty-four percent said their organization had not experienced any compliance issues, compared to 37% in the U.S. and 35% globally.

Like others, most Japanese compliance investigation programs are centralized

Globally, most respondents (67%) said their organizations use a centralized approach in their day-to-day compliance investigations program. This was also the case for respondents representing Japan-based organizations (58%), though the rate was less than the global trend as well as for organizations in the U.S. (68%).

Japanese-company boards show more direct compliance experience than global peers

It stands to reason that organizations where boards of directors are engaged in Compliance are more effective and resilient in R&C. 

For Japan-based organizations, 55% of respondents knowledgeable about ethics and compliance said their board of directors has members with compliance experience. This compares to 39% in the U.S., and 43% globally. The share that indicated their board has oversight of risk identification and management was 45% for Japan, 33% for the U.S. and 33% globally.

Compliance is ‘very involved’ in decisions on AI use at over one-third of Japanese organizations

As artificial intelligence plays an evolving role across different organizations, the role of Compliance in its implementation is also evolving.  

For Japan-based organizations, 36% of respondents said Compliance was “very involved” in the use of AI, in the U.S., 35% said the same, and the global response for this measure, 33%. Respondents said compliance was “not involved” at a rate of 12% for Japan-based organizations, consistent with rates in the U.S. and globally.

Only 50% of Japan-based organizations are said to have a hotline

NAVEX survey data continue to show a concerningly low rate of respondents globally indicating their organization has an internal whistleblower hotline. This is despite the fact that a mechanism for individuals to report misconduct anonymously and/or without fear of retaliation is a core part of any compliance program.  

For organizations based in Japan, 50% of respondents knowledgeable about ethics and compliance said the organization had a hotline or whistleblower internal reporting channel. This compares to 58% percent in the U.S., and 53% globally. 

The lack of a non-retaliation policy is also notable. For Japanese organizations, 29% were said to have such a policy. For the U.S., this was 60%, and globally, 49%.