Does Singapore need Say-On-Pay?

SAY-ON-PAY - in which shareholders get to vote on the remuneration of their company's top executives - is growing in prominence across the globe, as the push to vest shareholders with the power to decide executive compensation becomes greater.

There have been similar calls for Singapore - whose public companies operate in a disclosure-based regime - to do the same. Still, while it is an exciting notion to empower investors here with the right to decide executive remuneration, one needs to ask if Say-On-Pay will necessarily benefit the market.

Say-On-Pay has been adopted to varying degrees in several jurisdictions, most prominently in Europe, Australia and North America. Some jurisdictions have chosen binding votes, while others have made them advisory.