Taiwan ranks No. 3 in 2023 Asia corporate governance rankings

Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) Taiwan took the third spot in the Asian Corporate Governance Association's (ACGA) "CG Watch 2023" rankings, up one place from the previous survey in 2020.

According to the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), Taiwan scored 62.8 in the rankings released on Dec. 13, trailing only Australia (75.2) and Japan (64.6).

Taiwan's 2023 total score, a 0.6 rise from 2020's 62.2, was the country's highest-ever since the ACGA first began compiling the rankings in 2003, the country's top financial regulator said in a statement last week.

The CGW 2023 covers seven factors: governance and public governance, regulators, corporate governance rules, listed companies, investors, auditors and audit regulators, and civil society & media, the FSC said.

Among the seven factors, the FSC said, Taiwan ranked No. 2 in Asia in governance & public governance, regulators, and auditors and audit regulators categories in 2023.

The country's score in governance & public governance fell to 67 in 2023 from 68 in 2020, and the score in the regulators factor dropped to 65 from 66.

Meanwhile, the score in the auditors and audit regulator category soared to 83 in 2023, up from 2020.

In addition to the auditors and audit regulator factor, which made a significant improvement of 7 in score in 2023, Taiwan's score in the corporate governance rule factor also jumped sharply by 5 from three years earlier to 71 in 2023.

In 2023, Taiwan scored 55 in the listed companies factor, down from 63 in 2020, while its score in the investors factor hit 40, up from 38 in 2020.

In addition, Taiwan scored 62 in the civil society & media factor in 2023, unchanged from 2020.

The FSC said the CG Watch 2023 report showed there was room for Taiwan to improve in the investors and civil society & media factors.

In a separate statement, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), which runs the local main board, cited the 2023 CG Watch report as saying that one bright spot in the region was that Taiwan set up the new Commercial Court in 2021 to hear company and securities law disputes.

In addition, Taiwan has also raised the substantial ownership threshold to require majority shareholders to report their holdings to 5 percent from 10 percent to improve corporate governance, the TWSE said.

According to the TWSE, the 2023 CG Watch report praised Taiwan for Taiwan's FSC for initiating a "Sustainable Development Guidemap" in 2022 to strengthen the sustainability of listed companies on the main board and the over-the-counter (OTC) market.

The ACGA is an independent, nonprofit membership organization set up in Hong Kong in 1999. The organization is dedicated to working with investors, companies and regulators in the implementation of effective corporate governance practices throughout Asia.

Currently, the organization has 106 members from 18 markets in the report and 70 percent of the members are institutional investors, which manage more than US$4 trillion in assets worldwide.