Bursa Malaysia Recognised At The 2nd ASEAN Corporate Governance Awards Ceremony 2018 - The Exchange Wins Three Regional Awards For Good Governance Practices

Bursa Malaysia Berhad (“Bursa Malaysia” or “the Exchange”) was recognised in three award categories – “Top 3 Public Listed Companies (PLCs) in Malaysia”, “Top 50 ASEAN PLCs and “Top 5 ASEAN PLCs” – at the 2nd ASEAN Corporate Governance Awards Ceremony 2018, initiated by the Asean Capital Markets Forum  with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and hosted by the Minority Shareholders Watch Group (MSWG) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday.

The event, officiated by the Deputy Minister of Finance Yang Berhormat Dato' Ir. Haji Amiruddin Hamzah, brought together ASEAN regulators, ASEAN stock exchanges, ADB, ASEAN corporate governance experts, Malaysian PLCs and institutional investors to celebrate exemplary companies across the ASEAN region which have established a strong corporate governance framework to better serve their stakeholders and investors as well as employees, based on assessment using the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard in 2018.

Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia said, “Bursa Malaysia is honoured to be the recipient of three prestigious regional awards in corporate governance at the 2nd ASEAN Corporate Governance Awards Ceremony. Both as a PLC and a leading, responsible Exchange, we are proud to lead by example in good corporate governance. As a regulator, we have progressed from a prescriptive to a more principle-based and facilitative approach in cultivating and enhancing adoption of good corporate governance among our PLCs over the years – liberalising rules where standards of corporate governance conduct have improved, fostering and incentivising greater self-regulation and thus reducing intervention on our part through targeted incentives such as Green Lane Policy, and putting greater emphasis on guidance and education.”

“These market-friendly initiatives have helped to create a mindset shift among our PLCs from conformance to performance, resulting in increased levels of self-reporting and voluntary adoption of corporate governance and sustainability best practices, and an overall elevation of our capital market quality. Therefore, I am very proud that Bursa Malaysia and 13 other Malaysian PLCs have collectively achieved a milestone at the awards, being benchmarked to be at the forefront in the region for good corporate governance practices. This is a very positive leap compared to Malaysia’s performance at the inaugural ASEAN Corporate Governance Conference Awards in 2015, where six Malaysian PLCs including Bursa Malaysia made the Top 50 list. It augurs well for the perception of the international community and will definitely contribute towards increased investor confidence in our capital market. Bursa Malaysia on its own as well as in collaboration with the industry will continue to enhance market development and quality by, amongst others, further raising the corporate governance bar and strengthening our PLCs’ competitiveness, enabling them to become champions in ASEAN as well as internationally,” he said.  

Datuk Seri Tajuddin added, “At the same time, I would like to commend MSWG’s efforts in promoting a common governance framework across ASEAN to address the rapidly changing corporate and financial landscape and strengthen our region’s global competitiveness. Furthermore, MSWG’s regional initiatives that showcase corporate governance excellence such as the ASEAN Corporate Governance Awards Ceremony certainly play an important role in enhancing the visibility of ASEAN PLCs as an asset class within the global investment community.”