Women now make up 25% of boards at biggest SGX-listed companies; target met ahead of time
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As at June 30, women’s participation on boards has tripled from 7.5 per cent in 2013 to 25.3 per cent in June 2024.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE - A quarter of board directors for the top 100 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange are now women, crossing the 25 per cent mark ahead of 2025, according to mid-year data from the Council for Board Diversity (CBD).
As at June 30, 2024, women’s participation on boards has tripled from 7.5 per cent in 2013 to 25.3 per cent, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong in his keynote address at the council’s breakfast forum, Leadership-in-Action, on Oct 28.
The “25 per cent by 2025” target
Notably over the past five years, women board representation at statutory boards has increased to 34.2 per cent, up from 23.3 per cent, while that at the top 100 institutions of a public character rose to 31.5 per cent, up from 27.6 per cent.
“We’ve not only moved forward but have gone much, much further,” said Ms Mildred Tan, co-chairwoman for the CBD and board chairwoman of the Tote Board, at the forum. Some 120 board directors representing over 150 organisations attended the event.
Ms Tan noted that these are interim results, and that the final tally will be released at the end of 2024. CBD said on its website that the next target is achieving 30 per cent of women board representation by 2030.
DPM Gan said more can be done to pursue greater gender diversity, citing the lower proportion of women directors outside the top 100 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange, which is at about 14 per cent. “There is also room to encourage greater gender diversity in non-listed companies,” he said.
He added that in addition to gender diversity, there are other forms of diversity to pay attention to.
“Research has shown that companies with diverse boards not only perform better financially, but also innovate more and are better equipped to handle risks,” he said, emphasising the need for companies to bring in directors with diverse experience and expertise for fresh perspectives.
The forum, which was supported by the Singapore Business Federation, also put together a group of panellists to offer personal insights, such as how employers can balance short-term pressures and long-term growth, and how they can use crises to their advantage.
For instance, Ms Caecilia Chu, co-founder and chief executive officer of fintech company YouTrip, recounted a “traumatic” time during the Covid-19 period when it lost about 90 per cent of its business overnight. Ms Chu is also a board member of wealth management platform iFast Corporation.
“Obviously, no one was travelling... The toughest part was there was no end in sight,” she said.
Recognising the need to reinvent the business to survive, she said the company first looked at user data on the transaction platform.
“We discovered there were small pockets of super-users who kept maxing out their wallet limits,” she said, and the firm quickly realised that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were using the YouTrip card to send and receive money at cheaper rates across the border.
This was how a new business segment called YouBiz, an SME multi-currency corporate card, was built from scratch over eight months. It is now “one of the growth drivers” for the fintech company, she said.
Commending Ms Chu on her business journey, Dr Jeffrey Jaensubhakij, group chief investment officer at sovereign wealth fund GIC, affirmed the importance of focusing on something that customers value.
“The profits can follow after that... That to me is an encouragement and reminder even as we look at companies to invest in,” he said, adding that good decisions by the board and management do give investors the confidence in them.
Meanwhile, Ms Euleen Goh, chairwoman of the Singapore Institute of Management and a member of the Public Service Commission, provided advice on what makes a good board chairperson.
“A board chair should be one who welcomes all questions and has a way of respecting and regarding all questions,” she said.
One who turns down questions limits the values that board members can instil, she added.
Her other advice is for board chairpersons or directors to not “outsmart the management”. “I take the assumption that they know their business. My role as board chair or board member is to try to broaden the horizon, help them to see what’s out there that they may not know of.”
