Top 10 Singapore companies in Asean corporate governance scorecard unveiled

A handful of Singapore's publicly-listed companies (PLCs) fared well in the Asean Corporate Governance Scorecard, but many may need to up their game as regional counterparts are catching up, assessors of the Asean Corporate Governance Scorecard said on Thursday.

Singapore's top 10 PLCs were unveiled during a forum on Thursday, organised by Singapore Institute of Directors and in partnership with Centre for Governance, Institutions and Organisations (CGIO), NUS Business School.

The top 100 Singapore companies scored an average 70.7 out of a maximum 128 points, with the lowest at 43.9 and the highest at 105.5.

Looking at just basic governance requirements, they also achieved an average of 67.0 points out of a maximum 100, a slight increase from 65.1 points in 2013.

Assessors say there were improvements in rights of shareholders, equitable treatment of shareholders and role of stakeholders. However,areas such as disclosure and transparency and responsibilities of the board have remain relatively unchanged.

The top 10 Singapore companies in the assessment were also released on Thursday. They are, in decreasing rank, Singtel, Singapore Exchange, DBS Group Holdings, SMRT Corp, Singapore Press Holdings, CapitaLand, Keppel Land, SIA Engineering Co, OCBC Bank and Keppel Corp.

The full list of the top 100 listed companies will be available for download on Monday, May 4, on the CGIO (bschool.nus.edu/cgio) and SID website (www.sid.org.sg).

The top 50 companies across the six Asean states - Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand - will be released in the middle of the year.

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