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The Result of the Corporate Governance Evaluation Is Released

Publish time:2015-04-30

The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) released the Corporate Governance Evaluation results today.  A total of 1,393 companies, 798 TWSE-listed and 595 TPEx-listed companies, were evaluated, with the top 20% of scores being published. This is a total of 160 TWSE-listed and 119 TPEx-listed companies.  The average score of the companies when assessed against 92 indicators from five different categories was 73.45, and the average score for TWSE-listed companies was 74.23 and TPEx-listed companies was 72.41.
 
The TWSE states that the Corporate Governance Evaluation is a priority of the “2013 Corporate Governance Roadmap.”  The first corporate governance evaluation was conducted for the period of 2014.  The operations for the evaluation system started in June of 2013.  The content of the structure and indicators of the first evaluation system was made public in March of 2014.  Itemized assessments were conducted through corporate self-evaluations and the Corporate Governance Center evaluation task force.  Afterwards, the results of the evaluation were sent to the corporate governance evaluation committee to discuss and confirm.  Finally, the list of the top ranked 20% of companies was announced according to the “Corporate Governance Roadmap” plan so as to achieve the goal of rewarding good companies whilst incorporating benchmark functions.
 
Statistically, the TWSE pointed out that the top 20% companies by industry shows that the electronics industry ranked top with 150 companies.  However, nearly 70% of the companies in the financial industry were included in the top 20%.  In terms of company scale, TWSE-listed companies with capital of more than NT$ 5 billion placed in the top 20% at 67%.  TPEx-listed companies mainly consist of small and medium sized companies with capital of less than NT$ 1 billion; however, companies with more than NT$ 5 billion in paid-in capital have a higher percentage in the top 20%.
 
The TWSE further states that since the Corporate Governance Evaluation system was implemented in 2014, the performances of TWSE- and TPEx-listed companies have all significantly improved with respect to various corporate governance indicators.  Using TWSE-listed companies as an example, the shareholders' annual report was averagely published 4 days earlier than previous year.  Companies that adopted voting by poll and e-voting have increased by 52% and 65%.  47 companies filed their 2014 financial reports before the end of February 2015, one month earlier than legally required.  Companies that have mandated director/supervisor candidate nomination system in their articles of incorporation have increased by 56%.  Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting increased 55%, whilst the number of audit committees grew by 28%.  These improvements indicate that after the announcement of the “Corporate Governance Roadmap,” corporations actively begin to cultivate this significant value.  TWSE- and TPEx-listed companies have been working closely with the Corporate Governance Center to enhance these core values.
 
The Corporate Governance Center is planning to honor companies ranked in the top 5% in June.  Results are available on the Corporate Governance Center website (http://cgc.twse.com.tw/evaluationCorp/listCh), the “Corporate Governance Evaluation Area” of the Securities and Futures Institute’s (SFI) website (http://www.sfi.org.tw/E/Plate.aspx?ID=3404), and on the website of the Market Observation Post System (http://mops.twse.com.tw/mops/web/index).

List of the evaluation results