Out of the 851 Malaysian public-listed companies (PLCs) assessed by the Minority Shareholders Watch Group (MSWG) in its corporate governance assessment in 2020:

• 220 PLCs have no female board representation (25.9%)
• 370 PLCs have at least one woman director (43.5%)
• 142 PLCs have at least 30% women on their boards (16.7%)
• On average, the PLCs have 17% women directors on their board. The percentage has increased from 15% recorded in 2019 assessment.

The PLCs assessed by the MSWG excluded companies listed on the LEAP Market, PN17 and GN3 companies.

See link for media release for MSWG-ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard Award 2020 in the comment section.

The Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance, which has been revised on 28 April 2021, states that all board of directors should comprise of at least 30% women directors. If the composition of women on a board is less than 30%, the board should disclose the action it has or will be taking to achieve 30% or more and the timeframe to achieve this. The MCCG further states that a reasonable timeframe is one that is 3 years or less.

Based on the data above, Malaysian PLCs still have some way to go towards having at least 30% women directors on all board of directors, although it should be noted that there has been improvement in 2020 compared to 2019.

Companies undertaking IPO and listing exercise should take into account the time required to find suitable women directors to join their board of directors, if the existing board do not already have women directors.

#malaysiancorporatelawyer
#corporategovernance

This post was first posted on Linkedin on 18 August 2021.