Corporate governance has made progress, but practices need to evolve, 2019 index finds

But index finds little improvement in board responsibilities category. Singtel is top among the 578 listed companies ranked; CapitaLand Commercial Trust heads the list of 46 Reits

Michelle Quah

Published Wed, Aug 7, 2019 · 09:50 PM

Corporate governance

Singapore

THE scores for the Singapore Governance and Transparency Index (SGTI) may have reached new highs this year, but a substantial proportion of companies are still struggling to adopt corporate governance best practices that are in step with the times.

SGTI 2019, released on Wednesday, scored a total of 578 Singapore-listed companies and 46 real estate investment trusts (Reits) and business trusts that had released their annual reports by May 31.

The average or mean score for companies in the general category increased to 59.3 this year, up from 56.3 in 2018; the mean score in the trusts category rose from 74.5 to 78.6. Both figures are all-time highs for their respective categories.

The SGTI's authors ascribed the improvements to the companies and trusts' "persistent attempts to improve (their) corporate governance disclosu…

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