Profile of Independent Directors in Selected Philippine Publicly Listed Companies by Sector: An Update

Abstract

Independent directors have a crucial and defining role in corporate governance. This paper looks at the extent of compliance by selected Philippine-listed companies with the new corporate governance code (2016), which took effect on January 1, 2017. The banking sector has the highest compliance rate among the various sectors in terms of proportion of independent directors to board size, number of directorships in other listed companies, and separation of chairman and CEO. Although an Audit Committee is required for all listed companies, not all SEC 17-A reports contain information on board committees and their memberships. The qualifications of the Audit Committee Chairman in some companies also appear to have not met the prescriptions by the new corporate governance code. It is suggested that a SEC 17-A template be provided to listed companies, so that uniform and consistent data can be obtained from this report by the SEC to facilitate their monitoring role.