The revised Asean Corporate Governance scorecard will be adopted in Thailand next year in an effort to boost listed companies’ attractiveness in the eyes of foreign investors
October 18, 2013 Leave a comment
Scorecard ‘to spruce up Thai listed firms’
Varin Trino
The Nation October 18, 2013 1:00 am
The revised Asean Corporate Governance scorecard will be adopted in Thailand next year in an effort to boost listed companies’ attractiveness in the eyes of foreign investors, according to the Thai Institute of Directors (IOD). Listed companies would be evaluated in five main categories – the same as the scorecard currently in use, but the evaluation will be given greater depth, as the number of questions will be raised from 148 to 243, said IOD president Bandid Nijathaworn. “The scorecard will lift the status of Thai listed companies to make them an attractive asset class in Asean. It will be a reference for foreign investors, and this will help promote fund mobilisation and foreign investment. This in turn will encourage Thai companies to improve their corporate governance,” he said.
The Asean CG scorecard is a joint initiative of the Asean Capital Markets Forum and the Asian Development Bank.
Yesterday, the IOD revealed the 2013 CG score of 526 listed companies. Under the assessment criteria embodied in 219 questions, 100 Thai listed companies showed average CG score of 67.7 per cent in 2012.
The average score rose from 77 per cent last year to 78 per cent, thanks mainly to higher scores in 3 areas – the rights of shareholders, disclosure and transparency, and equitable treatment of shareholders. The average score of the three areas is nearly 90 per cent.
The average scores in the role of stakeholders and responsibilities of the board areas were below 60 per cent.
By industry, those in the resource sector showed the highest average score, 85 per cent, followed by those in the financial sector, 83 per cent; technology, 83 per cent; agriculture and food, 79 per cent; property and construction, 78 per cent; services, 78 per cent; and industry, 75 per cent.
The scores of 87 companies, or 17 per cent, were above 90 per cent, compared to 59 companies last year.
“The company with the highest score, 97 per cent, is listed in the industry sector, while the one with the lowest, 31 per cent, is in the consumer-goods sector. The wide gap shows there is room for improvement, and this would raise the overall scores in the next assessment,” Bandid said.
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