The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) today held the 2023 OECD-Asia Roundtable on Corporate Governance, a regional forum to promote policy dialogue on corporate governance and corporate finance between Asian economies and the OECD.
Some 150 delegates from over 20 countries are attending the two-day Roundtable held at the SC.
Deputy Minister of Finance I, Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, delivered the Keynote Address at the Roundtable and officiated the Asia launch of the revised G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance (Principles).
The Principles are a global benchmark for legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks for corporate governance. It was endorsed at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi on 11 September 2023.
The revised Principles aimed to address the emerging changes and challenges faced by corporations globally, such as those surrounding climate change and digitalisation, leading to new uncertainties and vulnerabilities.
The SC Chairman Dato’ Seri Dr. Awang Adek Hussin said, “The SC welcomes the renewed international consensus on governance expectations as captured in the revised Principles. This remains an important instrument guiding the shape of regulatory and institutional frameworks, including Malaysia, which is already broadly aligned with the new guidance in the Principles.”
In his speech at the Roundtable, he emphasised that good corporate governance remains at the core of the SC’s regulatory priorities and is critical to meeting sustainability goals and targets.
He also announced that as part of the SC’s sustainability efforts, a dedicated sustainability committee at the SC Board has been formed to strengthen its internal governance and strategic oversight of sustainability-related issues.
The Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD, Mr. Yoshiki Takeuchi, stressed that the revised Principles continue to reflect the experiences and considerations of both advanced and emerging economies.
“A key lesson we have learnt from nearly 25 years of promoting implementation of the Principles, is that well-designed corporate governance policies play an important role not only in supporting the development of capital markets but also in achieving wider economic objectives,” he said.
“This includes improving the sustainability and resilience of corporations as well as promoting innovation, productivity and entrepreneurship by enabling companies’ access to finance,” he added.
The revised Principles also cover for the first time, sustainability and resilience to help companies manage climate-related and other sustainability risks and opportunities.
This year’s OECD-Asia Roundtable deliberated on current corporate governance issues including role of governance in sustainability and resilience, institutional investors and stewardship of capital as well as the rise in the use of bond-financing and implications for bondholder rights.
Preceding the OECD-Asia Roundtable, the SC co-hosted the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) Asia Pacific Roundtable, which discussed the IAASB’s draft standard on sustainability assurance, the International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 50001.
Over 70 participants including representatives from capital market regulators and institutional investors were involved, including members of the Advisory Committee on Sustainability Reporting (ACSR)2.
ACSR’s involvement covers Malaysia’s national sustainability reporting framework including the development of an appropriate assurance framework for sustainability information.
