"This year is another year that the ASEAN CG Scorecard has developed important criteria in line with international CG trends. There is also a revised guideline for assessing, weight change by category and item which all affect the  scores. Therefore, it is gratifying that Thai listed companies are still able to maintain their leadership in the ASEAN region." said Mr. Prasan Chuaphanich, Chairman, Thai Institute of Directors.

In addition, awards were given to the top 50 listed companies with the highest ASEAN CG Scorecard scores. All of which have passed the validation process by KPMG, an external independent appraiser. The validation process involved interviews with the listed companies’ boards to examine the consistency between their information disclosure and actual practice. This was to ensure accuracy and help increase investors’ confidence in the assessment results. Among the top 50 listed companies, 14 were from Malaysia, 12 from Singapore, 11 from Thailand, 9 from the Philippines and 4 from Indonesia. The Thai listed company in the top 5 company list was PTT Global Chemical Public Limited Company.

SEC Secretary-General Rapee Sucharitakul said: “The capital market regulators in the ASEAN region initiated and supported the ASEAN CG Scorecard Project with the confidence that this assessment will raise the quality of corporate governance of listed companies in the ASEAN region to meet international standards and make them as recognized asset class to both domestic and foreign investors. Survey results in 2017 demonstrated the importance and effort toward corporate governance both from regulatory agencies and listed companies. When considering the 70 ASEAN listed companies with the highest score, Thailand comes top with 19 companies on that list, ahead of Malaysia and Singapore with 18 and 16 companies, respectively. However, the survey results revealed areas of improvement for Thailand. SEC will cooperate with the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the Thai Institute of Directors and related organizations to support continued CG leadership in ASEAN and development so that Thai stocks are ASEAN securities that attract investment.”

Chairman of the Board, Thai Institute of Directors, Mr. Prasan Chuaphanich, said further that: "Every prize that the Thai listed companies received at this event is a proud achievement for which  IOD would like to commend and congratulate. However, it is necessary for Thai listed companies to continue to develop, especially in issues important to ASEAN, whether it is determining the compensation policy and disclosing the remuneration of executives, formulating a diversity policy for board, such as gender, age, skills, expertise and putting policies into practice with goal setting as well as monitoring and reporting. This includes the role of the board regarding oversight in strategy, risk and IT, which IOD will support and promote knowledge of the said issues continuously."

The ASEAN CG Scorecard is a project initiated by the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum, which is supported by capital market regulators in the ASEAN region in order to assess the corporate governance of listed companies in six ASEAN countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Since 2012, the project has evaluated listed companies with the top 100 market values as of March 31. In this regard, the Thai Institute of Directors has been recognized by the Thai SEC to be the CG Expert and the domestic ranking body of Thailand.

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For more information contact:
Ms. Orakan Chuengthiraphanich, Thai Institute of Directors (IOD), tel. 02-955-1155 ext. 304 www.thai-iod.com