TOKYO (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 21, 2003--Standard&Poor's Governance Services today raised its Corporate Governance Score (CGS) on ORIX Corp. to 7.9 from 7.8, reflecting the strong standard of its corporate governance practices. This score identifies a company's overall corporate governance processes and practices as 'strong'. ORIX Corp. has demonstrated a strong commitment to implement shareholder-value oriented structures and processes in recent years. "The higher score on Standard&Poor's 10-point CGS scale reflects progress in several areas, including the recent establishment of board committees under the revised Japanese Commercial Code," said Hiroko Kiguchi, a Director in Standard&Poor's Governance Services group. "The positive changes are reflected in ORIX Corp.'s improved financial transparency and information disclosure, and board
