More SET companies win awards for boards

Today's Business News - Wednesday December 12, 2007

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE / RECOGNITION

More SET companies win awards for boards

KRISSANA PARNSOONTHORN

Nineteen listed companies received the Board of the Year Awards 2006-07 yesterday, a higher number than the 12 honoured in 2004-05.

Among the recipients this year, Bangdhchak Petroleum (BCP), CS Loxinfo (CSL), Krung Thai Bank (KTB), PTT (PTT) and Tisco Bank (TISCO) secured the Board of the Year for Exemplary Practices.

The other 14, which took home the Board of the Year for Distinctive Practices, are Bangkok Aviation Fuel Services (BAFS), Banpu (BANPU), Bangkok Bank (BBL), Bangkok Expressway (BECL), Electricity Generating (EGCO), The Erawan Group (ERAWAN), Kiatnakin Bank (KK), PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP), Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding (RATCH), Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), Se-Education (SE-ED), Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI), Thai Reinsurance (THRE) and Thai Oil (TOP).

On top of that, four companies _ EGCO, PTT, SCB and TISCO _ have been cited for having boards with Consistent Best Practices for three periods, in 2002, 2004-05 and 2006-07.

Charnchai Charuvastr, the president of the Thai Institute of Directors Association (IOD), said the scores of top-performing boards receiving the Board of the Year honours this year were very high, from 84 to 96 points.

''Among the 19 best-performing boards, nine of them obtained the awards for the first time this year.

This shows that more and more listed companies are concerned about corporate governance and the roles and responsibilities of the board,'' Mr Charnchai said.

The Board of the Year Awards started in 2002 with only eight listed companies named. The programme is sponsored by seven organisations: the IOD, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the Board of Trade, the Thai Bankers Association, the Thai Listed Companies Association, the Federation of Thai Industries and the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations.

This year, 45 companies were qualified to reach the final round.

The selection criteria covered six areas: board policy, board performance, board structure, board style, board meetings and board members.

Mr Charnchai said the boards of the 48 qualified listed companies agreed that participating in the project would also show them their weak points, enabling them to improved their efficiencies and effectiveness in the future.

The board is appointed by shareholders to protect their interests by supervising and guiding management, said Mr Charnchai. Therefore, the board has a key role to ensure the company's long-term success and fair returns for shareholders.

''In the view of investors, the CG report and the Board of the Year Awards have become factors in considering which stocks to invest in,'' he said.

Bangkok Post