Malaysia – Corporate Governance Monitor 2019.

The Securities Commission Malaysia ("SC") issued its inaugural Corporate Governance Monitor 2019 ("CG Monitor") on 6 May 2019. The CG Monitor will be issued annually by the SC to provide statistics on the adoption of the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance ("MCCG") by listed companies, and observations on the thematic reviews selected for the year.
 
Some of the key statistics featured in the current edition of the CG Monitor include: 

 

1. 27 of the MCCG best practices had an adoption level of more than 70%;
2. 74% of companies adopted at least 1 Step Up practice;
3. Listed companies generally provide disclosures which contained the minimum information required to explain the adoption or departure from the MCCG practices;
4. 131 listed companies disclosed the top 5 senior management remuneration in bands of RM50,000 and a further 25 listed companies disclosed the detailed remuneration of senior management on a named basis;
5. Malaysia made steady progress in terms of gender diversity on boards between December 2016 and December 2018, with a 7 percentage point increase for the top 100 listed companies (from 16.6% to 23.68%) and a 4 percentage point increase (from 12% to 15.69%) for all listed companies;
6. Target set in 2017 to have no all-male boards in the top 100 listed companies by the end of 2018 was achieved;
7. 242 resolutions to retain long-serving independent directors with tenure of more than 12 years were put to vote using the two-tier voting process; and
8. 81% of CEOs of the top 100 listed companies by market capitalisation received RM10 million or less in remuneration.

The current edition CG Monitor further featured the following thematic reviews: 

 

It is the aim of SC that the statistics and observations provided in the CG Monitor would facilitate stakeholders including boards, management, shareholders and the investment community in enhancing corporate governance excellence.
 
The SC contemplates to review the anti-corruption measures which have been adopted by listed companies, for the purposes of implementing the National Anti-Corruption Plan (2019-2023) (NACP) launched on 29 January 2019. These findings will be published in the next edition of the CG Monitor.
 
You may access the inaugural CG Monitor here.