The Taiwan Monthly

ESG

Quality of Shareholders' Meetings of Listed Companies has been raised in 2018

The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) is pleased to share that after more than five years of promotional and advocacy efforts starting from the implementation of the "Corporate Governance Evaluation System" in 2014, quantitative data for this period has shown significant progress.

　

According to statistics on shareholders' meetings, all listed companies have adopted e-voting since the beginning of 2018. More than 70% of the TWSE- listed companies (a total of 663) now have nomination systems for election of directors and supervisors in their Articles of Association, which is a 14% increase compared to only 583 companies in 2017 or a dramatic 230% increase compared to 201 in 2014. Following mandatory adoption of e-voting, all TWSE-listed companies have adopted poll voting in 2018, which increased by 257% compared to 257 in 2014. In addition, 874 TWSE-listed companies filed poll voting results on the same day, which is a 900% increase compared to 87 companies in 2014.

　

The TWSE stated that in addition to the substantial quality improvement for shareholders' meetings, all other items promoted by the evaluation system have also shown strong results. In terms of the “Board of Directors Structures and Operations”, it was mandatory to implement independent directors for all listed companies in 2017. 554 TWSE-listed companies had also set up audit committees by June 2018, which is equivalent to 60% of TWSE-listed companies and representing a 226% increase from 170 at the end of 2014.

　

For "information disclosure", 82 TWSE-listed companies filed their 2017 annual financial reports one month earlier than the March 2018 deadline, an increase of 273% compared to 22 in 2014. 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 big jump in 2018 from 387 to 450. The number of companies releasing English agendas also increased from 232 to 267; and the number of companies issuing English annual reports also rose from 177 to 193. Information transparency has clearly improved.

　

In terms of "non-financial information disclosure," a total of 241 TWSE-listed companies have filed their CSR reports to the M.O.P.S as of July 17, 2018. Among them, 206 were mandated by the regulations and 35 were voluntary. There are also 54 listed companies that can postpone their CSR report issuance deadlines until December 31, 2018 pursuant to the rule. Compared to the 342 CSR reports filed in 2017, at least 355 listed companies are anticipated to submit their CSR reports by the end of 2018.

　

The “2013 Corporate Governance Roadmap” has been effectively implemented by 2017. In order to improve the development of corporate governance and to accelerate implementation of international corporate governance standards,  the Financial Supervisory Commission has launched the New Corporate Governance Roadmap (2018-2020). The TWSE emphasizes that a good corporate governance practice is crucial to a sound capital market and the key to attracting long-term investors. The TWSE will cultivate the feedback from investor groups 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 website (http://cgc.twse.com.tw/).

 

Items / Number of companies		2018	Growth%	5-Year Growth%	2017	Growth%	2016	Growth%	2015	2014
English Information	Filing English AGM Notices	450	16%	516%	387	47%	264	98%	133	73
	Filing English Meeting Handbook at the AGM	267	15%	234%	232	27%	183	40%	131	80
	Filing English Annual Report	193	9%	141%	177	23%	144	35%	107	80
AGMs	Adoption of electronic voting	917	26%	383%	728	53%	475	86%	256	190
	Adoption of poll voting at the AGM	917	17%	257%	787	26%	627	60%	393	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	874	19%	905%	735	27%	578	63%	354	87
	Held the AGM before the end of May	114	25%	165%	91	3%	88	42%	62	43
	The average filing date of the Meeting Handbook prior to the day of the AGM (avg. date)	30.78	-	20%	30.88	2%	30.37	6%	28.66	25.70
	The average filing date of the Annual Report prior to the day of the AGM (avg. date)	17.88	-2%	24%	18.21	-	18.15	13%	16.13	14.38
Boards	Adoption of a nomination system for directors and supervisors in their Articles of Association	663	14%	230%	583	38%	424	32%	322	201
	Set up an Audit Committee	554	17%	226%	474	45%	327	35%	243	170
	Set up independent directors	917	1%	88%	907	15%	787	23%	638	488
Information Disclosure	Listed companies reporting their audited annual financial results within two months of the end of the accounting period	82	1%	273%	81	16%	70	49%	47	22
Non-Financial Disclosure	Filing CSR Reports-7/17	241*	-	40%	342	24%	275	3%	267	171

* 355 TWSE-listed companies are anticipated to submit their CSR reports by the end of 2018

 

 For further inquiries, please contact Ms. Cheng at 1209@twse.com.tw .