Ending the charade of independent directors

Singapore

A KEY challenging area in corporate governance has been the importance of independent directors (IDs) - that directors appointed to any corporate boards should be truly independent gatekeepers looking after the best interests of the company, and not afraid of interfering controlling shareholders.

Like in Hong Kong, this has been tough to ensure in Singapore, where the majority of listed companies have a block shareholder holding 15 per cent or more stake in the company. In contrast, other jurisdictions such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the US tend to have dispersed shareholdings without a major shareholder.