The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) released its inaugural Corporate Governance Monitor (CG Monitor) which highlighted positive levels of adoption for a majority of the practices recommended in the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) with improvement opportunities in the quality of disclosures.
Minister of Finance, YB Tuan Lim Guan Eng says, “We have seen progress in the area of gender diversity on boards, with Malaysia recording a seven-percentage point increase in women participation on boards of the Top 100 listed companies from 16.6 percent in 2016 to 23.68 percent in 2018. Women also account for 28 percent of senior management positions for all listed companies, higher than the Asia Pacific average of 23 percent. I’m encouraged by the fact that since February 2019, there are no more all-male boards for our Top 100 listed companies, and this indeed sets the tone for other PLCs to follow. I would like to congratulate the SC on the first edition of this report and we look forward to future editions.”
Apart from the encouraging progress in greater women participation on boards, Chairman of the SC, Datuk Syed Zaid Albar, said that among the 36 best practices outlined in the MCCG, 27 had an adoption level of over 70 percent.
“In fact, mid and small cap companies are among the trailblazers in the adoption of the CG best practices. Many of them have put in place good CG practices such as disclosing remuneration of senior management, introducing a 9-year tenure limit for independent directors and having a wholly independent audit committee. This shows that we are moving towards the right direction with greater appreciation of the value of adopting good CG practices, even among the smaller companies,” he added.
The CG Monitor 2019 presents observations on three thematic reviews on long-serving independent directors (policies and practices), gender diversity on boards and CEO remuneration of the top 100 listed companies.
