Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) Released CG Watch 2018 Report

The Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) released the “CG Watch 2018” report in Hong Kong on the morning of December 5, 2018. CG Watch is a biennial report issued by ACGA providing the survey results and ranking of the corporate governance performance by Asian markets. Titled “Hard Decisions”, the 2018 report examines the difficult choices that Asian market participants face in selecting the best way forward for CG reform, such as between dual-class shares and “one share, one vote”. This will exert a deep influence on the investors’ trust in the financial regulatory system in Asia. There is also a major change in the assessment criteria this year. The structure was reorganized from five thematic categories to seven categories (Please see Table 1). Also, Australia was officially included in the CG Watch list this year. Among the twelve Asian markets, Taiwan is ranked fifth this year, which is the same as 2016 (Please see Table 2).

 

Table 1

CG Watch 2016	CG Watch 2018
1.  CG Rules & Practices	1.  Government & Public Governance
2.  Enforcement (Public, private)	2.  Regulators            1.  Funding, Capacity Building, Regulatory Reform            2.  Enforcement
3.  Political & Regulatory Environment	3.   CG Rules
4.  Accounting & Audit	4.   Listed Companies
5.  CG Culture	5.   Investors
	6.   Auditors & Audit Regulators
	7.   Civil Society & Media

Table 2

Ranking: CG Watch 2016 and 2018
2016	2018
1. Australia	1. Australia
2. Singapore	2. Hong Kong
3. Hong Kong	3. Singapore
4. Japan	4. Malaysia
5. Taiwan	5. Taiwan
6. Thailand	6. Thailand
7. Malaysia	=7. Japan, India
8. India	-
9. Korea	9. Korea
10.China	10. China
11. Philippines	11. Philippines
12. Indonesia	12. Indonesia
Source: Asian Corporate Governance Association

 

The Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) was established at the end of 1999 in Hong Kong. ACGA is an independent, non-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting sound corporate governance in the Asian area and facilitating the economic and capital market development therein. It is now the most important organization in promoting and advocating corporate governance in the Asian area. ACGA has more than 100 members, including pension funds and financial institutions in Asia and around the world. ACGA members manage assets of more than USD30 trillion globally. Since 2003, ACGA has released the CG WATCH report and provided ranking on the overall corporate governance performance in Asia and in its respective markets. The CG reports have received great attention from institutional investors in the area as well as other market participants. For further information about the news release of the “CG Watch 2018” of ACGA, please visit: https://www.acga-asia.org/files.php?aid=362&id=1168.