The third Corporate Governance conference was held at Alfaisal University on Monday, the 29th of April 2019. The conference attracted a large number of participants from both government and private sectors. The program started with a welcoming message from the Dean of the College of Business, Dr. Bajis Dodin, followed by a presentation of Dr.Necati Aydin, releasing corporate governance indices (CGI) for 170 listed companies in Tadawul using CMA new CG principles.

The CGI score for each company is calculated based on up to 350 corporate governance variables which are driven from CMA, SAMA, and OECD principles for good corporate governance. The comprehensive CGI assessment within the four subcategories is an excellent tool for monitoring the state of corporate governance among the listed companies. The four categories are: Board of Directors, Public Disclosure and Transparency, Shareholders Rights, and Stakeholders Rights. The first CGI was calculated for 92 companies in 2017 while the second CGI released in 2018 included all listed companies based on old CMA principles. The newly released third CGI scored all listed companies based on new CMA principles. The overall mean score for all companies indicates significant improvement in the areas of public disclosure and transparency. However, the scores for the other three CG categories show a great need for the improvement to meet newly established high CG standards.

After presenting the findings of the third CGI scoring, the program continued with a panel discussion on “the importance of CMA new corporate governance principles for investors”. The panel was moderated by Dr.Necati Aydin. The panelists included Dr. Bander Assad Alsajjan, CMA Deputy, Strategy & International Affairs, Capital Market Authority (CMA); Dr. Ayedh H. AlOtaibi, Deputy Governor for Investment Climate General Investment Authority (SAGIA); Ms. Jane Valls, Executive Director, GCC Board Directors Institute (GCC BDI); and Dr.Chris Pierce, Chief Executive Officer, and founder of Global Governance Services Ltd. The panelists discussed the importance of good governance under new CMA principles to integrate the national economy with the global economy within the vision 2030.

Also, at the conference, Ms.Khloud Alharbi informed the participants about the services of Alfaisal University Corporate Governance Center while Mr. Abdulaziz Al Rumaih presented the roadmap for the center.

The conference ended by announcing the names of top 30 companies with highest CGI scores within 126 companies in the non-financial sectors and top 12 companies within 44 companies in the financial sectors. Top five companies in the non-financial sectors and top three companies in the financial sectors were presented “CG Excellence Award” by his Excellency Dr. Mohammed Alhayaza, Alfaisal University president, and Dr. Maha bint Mishari AlSaud, Vice President for External Relations & Advancement.

The CG Team will continue the work for the fourth CGI round by measuring the CG performance based on the fiscal year of 2018 data. The CG Center at Alfaisal University is planning to organize the first international conference on corporate governance on December 9, 2019. The findings of fourth CGI scoring will be released at that conference.