Taiwan records corporate governance progress

16 April 2016

Editor

EU regulation

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission has published the Securities and Futures Institute's second evaluation of Taiwan's  5-year Corporate Governance Roadmap published in December 2013. This is an assessment of the corporate governance of 1,447 companies in 2015 - made up of  824 TWSE-listed companies and 623 listed on the Taipei Exchange (TPEx). Half of these companies have then been ranked according to the adherence to Taiwan's corporate governance roadmap. This list included 412 TWSE-listed companies and 312 TPEx-listed companies, which were divided into groups by score - top 5%, top 6% to 20%, top 21% to 35%, and top 36% to 50% accordingly.

The TWSE said that the implementation of corporate governance evaluation was considered one of the major projects with the goal to assist investors and companies in better understanding the performance of corporate governance by comparing the evaluation result among companies. There has been improvement in various aspects of corporate governance since the first assessment covering 2014, according to the TWSE. For example, in 2015 the number of companies that adopted voting by poll or electronic voting increased by 64% and 38%, respectively; the number of companies that mandated a director or supervisor candidate nomination system in their articles of incorporation increased by 62%.  Regarding board composition, the number of companies that have independent directors has increased by 24% and those having audit committees have increased 45%. Meanwhile the number of companies that filed their financial statements by the end of February this year grew to 97 in 2016, compared to 72 in 2015 and 32 in 2014. In addition, the number of companies that prepare corporate social responsibility reports is growing at a rate of over 50% every year, the TWSE said.

To encourage the top performing companies, an award ceremony is scheduled to take place in June to honour companies in the top 5%  of the ranking - there are 41 from the TWSE and 31 from  the TPEx.

Meanwhile, the TWSE also held a seminar recently focusing on the implementation of its stewardship principles for instititutional investors.  The seminar was co-chaired by the chairman of TCGA, Lu Daung-Yen, and the president of TWSE, Michael Lin. Among the speakers were the founding Secretary General of the Asian Corporate Governance Association, Jamie Allen and Hans Christoph Hirt, chief executive of Hermes EOS, , who looked at the trends of stewardship internationally and the best practice approaches taken by institutional investors when engaging with companies.

A consultation was held until 5th February on Taiwan's stewardship principles and the finalised text will be published later this year.

Latest News

SHareholder meeting

ICCR urges investors to encourage company support against Rule 14a-8 rescission proposal

SHareholder meeting

Fifteen financial institutions push ISSB towards dedicated Nature Standard

SHareholder meeting

NA100 benchmark shows nature commitments progress as investors strengthen engagement efforts

SHareholder meeting

ESMA's Transition and Impact Claims Guidance: Lessons for SFDR II

SHareholder meeting

Tesla’s 2026 AGM sees no shareholder proposals for first time in over a decade

SHareholder meeting

Procter & Gamble shareholder rights proposals draw significant support

Featured Briefings

Minerva Briefing

2026 United States of America Proxy Season Review

Minerva Briefing

US SEC Rule 14a-8 Rescission Proposal

Minerva Briefing

2026 Global Proxy Season Review

Minerva is a global provider of sustainable stewardship solutions with over 30 years of expertise. Minerva empowers investors by providing essential tools, including ESG research and data and expert insights, enabling them to navigate the intricate and ever-evolving landscape of stewardship and proxy voting, whilst ensuring their decisions are well-informed and aligned with sustainable principles.

Related Stories

ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations

ASX governance reform: simplification must preserve decision-useful disclosure

September 16, 2026
Read More
UK Corporate Reporting

Accountability versus allocation: Who is corporate reporting for?

September 11, 2026
Read More
Growth with weakened governance poses risks, FCA warns

Growth with weakened governance poses risks, FCA warns

August 13, 2026
Read More
APAC Corporate Governance Reforms 2026

APAC corporate governance reforms: Japan and Australia shift focus to governance effectiveness

July 22, 2026
Read More
Minerva Analytics UK Stewardship Code signatory status

Minerva maintains UK Stewardship Code signatory

July 16, 2026
Read More

Minerva Proxy Update

June 12, 2026
Read More