PSE promotes corporate governance in Asean

MANILA, Philippines - The operator of the local stock exchange has again joined the ranks of the top 50 Philippine companies that promote corporate governance and investor protection.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) said it was included among the top 50 best performing publicly listed companies (PLC) in the Philippines for the second straight year based on the Asean Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) country reports and assessments 2013-2014.

“The PSE continues to strive to adhere to the highest standards of corporate governance as we are cognizant of the benefits of having good governance practices to the investing public and to the country,” said PSE president and CEO Hans B. Sicat.

Corporate governance principles provide guidance on how corporations should operate. Adoption of international corporate governance best practices leads to long-term sustainability and resilience, and can be a competitive tool to attract foreign investments.

“Being at the forefront of promoting good corporate governance among listed companies, we know that we ourselves have to practice the same tenets that we are espousing and the results of the recent ACGS show that we are in the right direction,” Sicat said.

PLCs of the six participating Asean member countries were evaluated based on international standards of corporate governance including the five Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Principles of Corporate Governance. The ACGS is a joint initiative of the Asean Capital Markets Forum and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Listed companies in the Philippines recorded higher ratings in terms of corporate governance and investor protection efforts last year, a development that will help attract more investors in the country.

However, PLCs were found lacking in disclosure and information dissemination compared with its Southeast Asian counterparts, an issue that should be resolved ahead of the regional economic integration in 2015.