The Taiwan Monthly

ESG

Corporate governance of listed companies continues to improve in 2024

In recent years, in order to enable listed companies to continuously enhance corporate governance and encourage them to emphasize sustainable development, enterprises have been gradually guided to establish relevant systems. Statistics show that progress has been made in a number of quantitative indicators of corporate governance quality, due to the Corporate Governance Roadmaps, the Corporate Governance Evaluation, and various advocacy activities by the competent authorities.

In the aspect of the “Convention of Annual General Meetings” (the AGM), companies are encouraged to hold their meetings early to alleviate the concentration of meeting schedules. This year, a total of 419 listed companies held their annual shareholders' meetings by the end of May, an increase of 30% compared to last year. On average, the handbook and the annual report of the shareholders' meeting were filed 31.47 days and 20.02 days respectively before the date of the shareholders' meeting, significantly earlier than the law requires. 

Regarding the “Composition and Operation of the Board of Directors,” 866 listed companies have appointed at least one female director, representing a growth of 19% compared to last year. Additionally, 901 listed companies have independent directors making up no less than one-third of their board, which is an approximate increase of 9% from last year. These companies will continue to meet the requirements for board composition in the future.

As to “Information Disclosure,” 236 TWSE-listed companies filed their financial reports for the previous year before the end of February 2024, an increase of 20% over last year. With regards to “Non-financial Information Disclosure,” as of August 31, a total of 700 listed companies filed their Sustainability Report for 2023, accounting for approximately 69% of all listed companies. Among them, 454 Sustainability Reports were assured by third parties.

 

For further information, please contact Ms. Lo at 1238@twse.com.tw.