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1. Good morning all and thank you for joining us today.
2. As we all saw from Prof Loh’s presentation earlier, Singapore entities as a whole have seen their total score improving steadily since the first ACGS review conducted back in 2012. More significantly, the score distribution of Singapore entities has consistently shifted rightwards and all companies reviewed scored least 80 points in this round of review.
3. I have optimistic and will continue to be. I studed the distribution of scores for Singapore companies and I am reminded of my daughter – my youngest one who used to participate in dragon boat races and she is currently on the Singapore national rowing team. Regulators seldom have the chance to brag so let me humbly brag about my daughter who was in the NUS dragon boat team and now, on the national rowing team.
4. I was always there to support my daughter in her dragon boat races and recalled a conversation I had with her. A drummer of small build seated at the front of the dragon boat caught my attention. I said to my daughter that the easiest role in a dragon boat team was the drummer as she did not have to do much except to beat the drum. She exclaimed, “No mom ! The drummer’s role is important and actually the hardest.” I wondered why. She told me that the drummer at the front of the boat is the voice that brings everyone together towards the common goal. The drummer holds the leadership in the mess of it all , shouts commands to the crew and ensures that everyone is in sync, co-ordinated and motivated to reach the finishing line. There is another person at the back of the dragon boat – the Coxswain. That’s the person that steers, maintaining a watchful eye to ensure that the boat is in the right direction. As regulators, we are like the Drummer and the board of directors play the role of the Coxswain. The management team of the companies are the paddlers.
5. The point I want to make is that the level of corporate governance in our market or indeed any market is actually quite similar to the performance of a rowing team.
6. How so? Like members of the dragon boat team, each of us have a different role to play but we are set on the common goal, namely to raise the standards of governance and contribute to the reputation and good branding of our capital market. As she often reminds me, the team is only as strong as its weakest link. Similarly for listed companies, every company needs to pull its own weight and move towards the right direction Even a single bad apple can tarnish our market’s reputation and lead to negative impression that is can be long lasting.
7. Similarly, good behaviour and CG scores reward the companies concerned. This eventually will benefit everybody when more investors and companies are drawn to our market because of our strong corporate governance practices.
8. Today, I am very glad to see how our companies have improved together, a testament of the entire market community’s consistent efforts championed by SGX RegCo. Our focus has always been on setting clear direction and providing guidance to the market through various channels.
9. You may be familiar with our Regulators’ Columns where we set out our expectations of issuers and professionals for specific issues or trends that we spot. We have published five of such columns in 2023 alone, almost one every other month.
10. We also regularly engage companies, your management as well as audit committees, on a one-to-one basis, particularly in instances where we have identified specific areas where CG disclosures can be strengthened based on our reviews of their disclosures.
11. I should also note that the results presented today are based off the 2021 annual reports, and would naturally not reflect the outcome of more recent efforts by both the ListCos and RegCo. Since then, we have introduced new listing rules including a hard tenure limit for IDs of 9years effective for issuers’ financial years ending on or after 31 Dec 2023 as well as mandate disclosure of exact remuneration for directors and CEOs, which will take effect for financial years ending on or after 31 Dec 2024.
12. We have also mandated disclosures on board diversity policy and targets as well as climate-related disclosure based on TCFD’s recommendations for financial years commencing on or after 1 Jan 2022 on a comply or explain basis. As with the earlier introduction of sustainability reporting, we expect climate reporting to be stepped up progressively, and the SRAC has recently consulted on requiring all listed companies to eventually make climate related disclosures, aligned with the standards set forth by the International Sustainability Standards Board.
13. Our work does not stop here, we are constantly watching and listening to the voices of our listed companies and investors. I am optimistic that Singapore will improve even further in the next ACGS review. Thank you all once again and have a wonderful day ahead.
