The Taiwan Monthly

ESG

“2020 Corporate Governance and Corporate Integrity Seminar for Directors and Supervisors” receives warm response

The Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange held the “2020 Corporate Governance and Corporate Integrity Seminar for Directors and Supervisors” in Taipei and Hsinchu on October 16 and 22, respectively. Directors, supervisors and corporate governance executives of listed and OTC companies were invited to participate in the meeting to share the latest amendments to the private sector anti-corruption and investor protection laws. This includes the responsibilities of directors and supervisors and the sustainable development blueprint. More than 700 people participated in the two sessions, highlighting the importance that listed companies attach to corporate governance and corporate integrity.

 

Tou-Hui Chang, Standing Deputy Director of the Ministry of Justice, first delivered a speech in the Taipei session. Chang said that Transparency International released the latest Corruption Perception Index last year (2019). Taiwan, with a high score of 65 points, ranked 28th among 180 countries and regions in the world and 4th among Asian countries, surpassing 84% of the evaluated countries in the world. This is the best result since the launch of the new evaluation standards in 2012. Chang also expressed special thanks to the Financial Supervisory Commission, the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange for their long-term efforts in promoting corporate integrity. Because the listed and OTC companies are the lifeblood of Taiwan's economic development,  the goal is that through this meeting, all the directors, supervisors and corporate executives in attendance could understand that the significance of corporate integrity in listed and OTC companies as the top priority of the private sector's anti-corruption work whether in the past, present or future.

 

Yung-Chin Hsu, Deputy Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, said in the VIP Keynote Speech I on “Anti-corruption Propaganda in the Private Sector” in the Taipei session that the corporate governance blueprint has evolved from the first version released in 2013 that emphasized the internal governance reform such as the function of the board of directors, to the third version “Corporate Governance 3.0 - Sustainable Development Roadmap (‘Roadmap’)” officially launched on August 25 this year. It  echoes the recent international attention on E (environment), S (society) and G (corporate governance) issues and aims to introduce 39 specific measures under five major axes in a 3-year period to build a sound ecosystem of the environment, society and corporate governance (“ESG”). In Keynote Speech I, Deputy Chairman Hsu also introduced to the participants the issues of corruption and bribery of business operators under the “Commercial Bribery” topic and then explained the legal interests infringed by commercial bribery, the forms of commercial bribery and the laws and regulations on this subject. He concluded by sharing international anti-corruption regulations, which can serve as a reference for Taiwan's future legislation.

 

In response to the amendment to the “Securities Investor and Futures Trader Protection Act” implemented on August 1, 2020, Chairman Chin-Ting Chiu of the Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center explained the key points of the amendment in his keynote speech, covering representation, dismissal and litigation, including Emerging Stock Board (“ESB”) companies and foreign companies listed in Taiwan, an introduction of the disqualification system that dismissed directors and supervisors shall not serve as directors and supervisors of listed (“OTC”) and ESB companies within three years, plus the regulation that the claim of representative litigation can be extended to managers and retired directors and supervisors and that the litigation participation of representative litigation has an independent participation effect. These have expanded the application scope of the litigation business of the Investors Protection Center to allow it to more effectively play the external restrictive power and improve the corporate governance image of Taiwan.

 

On August 25 this year, the Financial Supervisory Commission issued the “Corporate Governance 3.0 - Sustainable Development Roadmap” announcing that Taiwan's capital market has officially entered the era of corporate governance 3.0. Chao-En Hsieh, Section Chief of the Corporate Governance Department of the Stock Exchange, introduced the Roadmap and elaborated on the important measures and promotion schedule of the Roadmap of the five main axes: “strengthening the functions of the board of directors to enhance the sustainable value of enterprises,” “improving the transparency of information to promote sustainable operations,” “strengthening the communication among stakeholders and creating a good interactive channel,” “conforming to international standards and guiding due diligence governance” and “deepening the corporate sustainable governance culture and providing diversified products.”

 

The 700 plus directors, supervisors and corporate governance executives present showed a keen interest in the seminar and had productive interactions. The Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange will hold two more sessions in Taichung and Kaohsiung on November 12 and 13. The objective of this activity is that all sectors of the society will work together to improve the level of corporate governance in Taiwan capital market; the aim is to further achieve the implementation of corporate governance, enhance the sustainable development of enterprises, build a sound ESG ecosystem and strengthen the core international competitiveness of the capital market.

 

For further inquiries, please contact Ms. Huang at 0819@twse.com.tw