Bursa Malaysia issues corporate governance findings

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd's report on findings from its review of corporate governance disclosures of annual reports of 300 issuers listed on the Main and ACE markets, found that there is a high level of compliance among issuers with its listing requirements.
The review also found that listed issuers have embraced the principles of the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance 2012 (MCCG) and in most aspects, adopted its recommendations.
The review by Bursa Malaysia was to assess the level and quality of disclosures by listed issuers in relation to the MCCG and Bursa Malaysia's relevant listing requirements.This is its first publicly available report on disclosures relating to best practices in annual reports since the introduction of the MCCG.
Bursa Malaysia CEO Datuk Tajuddin Atan said the report reflects findings from other regional and international corporate governance surveys, which indicate that Malaysia's listed issuers are moving from conformance to listing requirements, to embracing best practices. The quality of disclosures by listed issuers has shown noticeable improvement in 2013 when compared to 2012 across the MCCG Principles.
"We hope that listed issuers will take note of the findings in this report and improve upon their corporate governance disclosures where necessary. Bursa Malaysia will continue to review such disclosures in future," he said in a statement.
Listed issuers showed adherence to best practices by disclosing clear roles and responsibilities of the board in discharging its fiduciary and leadership functions. These disclosures provided the investing public greater insight into listed issuers' corporate governance practices. There were commendable disclosures in relation to the criteria for selection and appointment of new directors, and assessment of individual directors.
Through this review, Bursa Malaysia also noted several key areas for improvement in disclosures made by listed issuers, in particular areas pertaining to the audit committee's activities and oversight of the risk management and internal control framework.