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Matsushita Elec plans boardroom reforms

TOKYO, April 23 (Reuters) - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, maker of Panasonic goods, said on Wednesday it would reform the structure of its board of directors, joining a wave of big Japanese companies aiming to speed up executive decision-making.

The daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said the reforms would include paring the 27-member board by one-third while ensuring a strong voice for managers of the company's key divisions, such as audiovideo electronics.

A spokesman declined to comment on details of the reforms ahead of a news conference by Matsushita President Kunio Nakamura at 3:30 p.m. (0630 GMT).

The Nihon Keizai said Matsushita would shun U.S.-style boardroom reforms adopted recently by Sony Corp , which set up an audit committee comprising mostly independent directors and aimed to separate its executive and supervisory functions.

Matsushita, a sprawling electronics conglomerate often associated with traditional Japanese corporate practices, would instead opt for more modest reforms similar to those announced last month by Toyota Motor Corp , the newspaper said.

Toyota said it would pare its unwieldy 58-member board by about half, but keep executive functions inside the board.

Many of Japan's big manufacturers are under pressure to improve corporate governance and speed up executive decision-making through reforms such as cutting the number of board members and appointing more outside directors.

Matsushita's shares ended Wednesday morning trade up 1.18 percent at 940 yen, modestly outperforming the Tokyo Stock Exchange's electrical machinery index , which was unchanged on the day.