Thailand's CG in relatively high level: IOD
Thai listed companies' corporate governance remains in a good level, with the average CG score of 77 per cent this year compared to 80 per cent last year.
The annual scoring is completed by Thai Institute of Directors Association. Last year, 480 companies were covered, against 497 this year. IOD President and CEO Bandid Nijathaworn was pleased with the result, saying that this year's score is relatively high as the criteria have been strengthened.
According to the Corporate Governance Report of Thai Listed Companies 2011 which was revealed today, 362 companies (73 per cent) win the score above 70 per cent while 47 companies (9 per cent) are excellent, scoring 90 per cent or more.
The scoring, started in 2001, covered five categories - shareholders' rights, equitable shareholder treatment, stakeholders' rights, information disclosure and the board of directors' accountability. The criteria has been upgraded regularly to meet international standards. This year, the criteria covered 148 items, from 132 last year, including many corporate social responsibility-related. For the first time, anti-corruption practice has been included in the scoring.
According to Bandid, without the new criteria, the listed companies' average score would be 82 per cent.
"The project's success not only reflects on listed companies' higher scores but also their compliance and continued efforts to improve corporate governance. The IOD will continue work with the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Securities and Exchange Commission in improving CG among listed companies," Bandid said.
Listed companies this year won the highest score in the shareholders' rights category but performed the worst in the stakeholders' rights category.
