THE PHILIPPINE Stock Exchange is set to honor publicly listed companies and trading participants which are role models for good governance during the 4th annual PSE Bell Awards on Wednesday.
“The competitive business environment drives companies to come up with cutting edge products and services to remain on top. But we believe that a company culture rooted on the principles of corporate governance is another distinct mark that businesses should aspire for,” PSE president and chief executive officer Hans Sicat said in a press statement on Tuesday.
A panel of judges composed of independent and expert individuals from various sectors and organizations was formed by the PSE to deliberate and select the finalists and winners for this year’s Bell Awards.
“We are pleased that the Philippines did very well in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Corporate Governance Awards, with 11 listed firms being named among the Top 50 ASEAN publicly listed companies, the second highest representation among ASEAN markets. We hope to do even better in the coming years through the Bell Awards and the corporate governance programs that will be introduced by the PSE,” Sicat added.
On the recently held ASEAN Corporate Governance Awards, the 11 winners among Philippine publicly listed corporations were: Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Ayala Corp., Ayala Land Inc., BDO Unibank Inc., Globe Telecom Inc., GT Capital Holdings, Inc., Manila Electric Co., Manila Water Co., Philex Mining Corp., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and SM Prime Holdings. A special award was also given to Asia United Bank.
Organized by the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) and hosted by the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), leaders of the region’s leading publicly-listed companies , capital markets regulators and governance experts earlier converged in Manila to take part in the inaugural ASEAN Corporate Governance Conference and Awards (ACGCA).
More than 60 companies from across the region were recognized for the first time at the ACGCA, for “implementing a corporate governance framework that better served the company, its investors and its people.”
The winning companies from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam were awarded based on the specifications of the Asean corporate government standards that included rights of shareholders, equitable treatment, role of stakeholders, disclosure and transparency, board responsibilities as well as bonuses and penalties.