KUCHING, Jan 21: Large companies as defined in the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) are expected to have at women comprise at least 30 per cent of directors on their boards.
In the MCCG released on April 26, 2017, companies are also required to disclose their gender diversity policy, targets and measures.
In this regard, promoting gender diversity on boards of listed companies remains a priority of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC).
This dovetails with the launching of Women Empowerment Year 2018 by the Malaysian government recently.
As at Dec 31, 2017, 19.2 per cent of board seats on the top 100 listed companies on Bursa Malaysia (top 100 companies) were occupied by women; up from 16.6 per cent as at Dec 31, 2016.
During the launch of the MCCG in April last year, the SC also set a target to have no all-male boards on the top 100 companies by the end of 2018.
As at Jan 17, 2018, there are only seven companies with all-male boards, a 65 per cent improvement from 20 companies as at Dec 31, 2016.
The seven remaining companies are Affin Holdings Bhd, Alliance Bank Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd, Genting Malaysia Bhd, and UOA Development Bhd. The SC and the 30% Club Malaysia have actively engaged these companies.
The SC understands that some of these companies are taking steps to identify suitable candidates to secure women participation on their boards.
Fraser & Neave will be nominating two women candidates to be appointed as board members in their upcoming annual general meeting.
Moving forward, SC will review and analyse corporate governance disclosures to monitor the level of implementation of CG practices including gender diversity.
These observations will be published by the SC through periodic corporate governance thematic reports. — DayakDaily
