The Taiwan Monthly

Dec. 2019

ESG

TWSE Board Function Enhancement Seminars receive positive feedback

The TWSE held the “Board Function Enhancement Seminars” in Kaohsiung and Taipei on November 1 and November 6, respectively. Directors, supervisors and chief corporate governance officers in TWSE-listed companies were invited to understand the operational structure and regulations of the board of directors and global trends of corporate governance. The participants also included several TWSE-listed companies' chairmen. Around 450 participants joined these two sessions, showing how the companies placed great emphasis on the strengthening of directors' functions.

 

TWSE President Lih-Chung Chien delivered a speech at the meeting and pointed out that only the enterprises which have a sound corporate governance system can show their true value. Enterprises are the foundation of the economy and the board is the brain of an enterprise, clearly showing the importance of the board's role with respect to corporate governance. The meeting offered in-depth analysis of the board's key measures and the trends of international corporate governance, further raising companies' awareness in the topic and encouraging the board to effectively exercise its functions and influences.

 

Deputy director Tsung-Hsuan Tsou in the Innovation &  Intellectual Property Center of the Science and Technology Law Institute under the Institute for Information Industry first talked about how managing intellectual property (“IP”) can improve corporate governance. She mentioned that as the international markets become more competitive, businesses should be aware of the potential IP risk. She also shared both the domestic and foreign cases on how IP management benefits business operations and clearly defined the board's governance responsibilities in IP. Chairman Chin-Ting Chiu of the Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center then talked about legal responsibilities involving the financial statement fraud. He provided an analysis on the responsibilities of the board and supervisors with respect to the Securities and Exchange Act and shared several practical case studies. He explained the regulations pertaining to insider trading and emphasized how it can cause severe civil and criminal penalties, potentially leading to dismissal lawsuits as described in the Securities Investor and Futures Trader Protection Act.

 

Toward the end of the seminar, the senior manager of the TWSE Corporate Governance Department Chao-En Hsieh explained the important measures of the Corporate Governance Roadmap (2018~2020). There are key initiatives for corporate governance such as setting up chief corporate governance officers, improving information disclosure in English and implementing self or peer evaluation for the Board of Directors. He also talked about the latest updates to the Securities and Exchange Act and the revision to the Ethical Corporate Management Best Practice Principles for TWSE/GTSM Listed Companies as referred to ISO37001. After the presentations, board members and supervisors showed their strong interests in the topics and had dynamic interaction with the other participants, and all expressed their gratitude on how the event benefited them. The TWSE will host one more seminar on November 21 in Taipei with the goal of helping TWSE-listed companies to effectively manage the board's functions to create long-term value and improve the quality of the country's capital market.

 

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