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Quality of Shareholders' Meetings of Listed Companies has been raised
The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) is pleased to report that since the Corporate Governance Roadmap(hereinafter "the Roadmap")was released in 2013 and the corporate governance evaluation was implemented, quantitative data over a two year period has shown significant progress. According to statistics on shareholders’ meetings, 70% of the TWSE-listed companies have adopted voting by poll in 2016, which is a 56% increase compared to 2015, and among those companies, 93% has disclosed the voting results on each motion in the M.O.P.S on the same day as the AGM. More than 50% of the listed companies have adopted electronic voting in 2016, which is an 86% increase compared to 256 companies in 2015. In addition, close to 50% of the listed companies adopted nomination systems for election of directors and supervisors in their Articles of Association, which is a 34% increase compared to only 322 companies in 2015. The average filing date for meeting handbooks and annual reports in 2016 was earlier than that of 2015; it is significant because shareholders have improved access.
In addition to the increased quality of shareholders’ meetings, other measures propagated by the Roadmap have also been improved. For “board structure and effectiveness”, 306 TWSE-listed companies set up audit committees, an increase of 63 companies. 766 companies had independent directors in 2016, a 20% augmentation with 128 more enterprises making these appointments.
For “information disclosure”, 70 TWSE-listed companies filed their 2015 annual financial reports one month earlier than the March 2016 deadline, an increase of 49% with 23 additional companies. This is important for shareholders as it allows them further time to make more informed investment decisions, especially for foreign shareholders as English AGM notices had a 98% jump in 2016. The number of companies releasing English agendas also jumped from 131 to 183; and the number of companies releasing English annual reports also rose from 107 to 144. Information transparency has clearly improved.
The TWSE emphasizes that a good corporate governance practice is crucial to a sound capital market and the key to attracting long term investors. Listed companies have put forth favorable improvements in corporate governance;an effort which is recognized by institutional investors. The TWSE will cultivate the feedback from the investor group in order to improve the quality of the capital market and listed company competitiveness. Corporate governance-related statistics can be found on the Corporate Governance Center’s Statistics area (http://cgc.twse.com.tw/).
Items / Number of companies | 2016 | Growth% | 2015 | Growth% | 2014 | |
English Information | Filing English AGM Notices | 264 | 98% | 133 | 82% | 73 |
Filing English Meeting Handbook at the AGM | 183 | 40% | 131 | 64% | 80 | |
Filing English Annual Report | 144 | 35% | 107 | 34% | 80 | |
AGMs | Adoption of poll voting at the AGM | 614 | 56% | 393 | 53% | 257 |
Disclose the numbers of votes cast "For" and "Against" as well as the number of "Abstentions" on each motion reported on MOPS on the same day of the AGM | 568 | 60% | 354 | 307% | 87 | |
Adoption of electronic voting | 475 | 86% | 256 | 35% | 190 | |
The average filing date of the Meeting Handbook prior to the day of the AGM (avg. date) | 30.37 | 6% | 28.66 | 12% | 25.70 | |
The average filing date of the Annual Report prior to the day of the AGM (avg. date) | 18.15 | 13% | 16.13 | 12% | 14.38 | |
Held the AGM before the end of May | 88 | 42% | 62 | 44% | 43 | |
Boards | Adoption of a nomination system for directors and supervisors in their Articles of Association | 424 | 32% | 322 | 60% | 201 |
Set up an Audit Committee | 306 | 26% | 243 | 43% | 170 | |
Set up independent directors | 766 | 20% | 638 | 31% | 488 | |
Information Disclosure | Listed companies report their audited annual financial reports within two months of the end of the accounting period | 70 | 49% | 47 | 114% | 22 |
Non-Financial Disclosure | Filing CSR Reports | 165 | * | 263 | 54% | 171 |