ICDM looking into building up formal certifications for directors

Exclusive report by Thivyamalini Ramalu

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 -- The Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia (ICDM) intends to work with regulators to look into building up formal certifications for directors in the country under its next five- year plan.

Its president and chief executive officer Michele Kythe Lim said it was crucial as corporate governance (CG) was not a static matter and it would evolve with time. 

“We need to work with the regulators to see whether we should have a type of formal certification for directors, you treat them as a professional, something like in the United Kingdom (UK) where they have chartered directorship.

“As a professional, you need to have a formal certification, (directors) need to be agile and be able to respond to changing circumstances for the business,” she told Bernama in an interview here, today.

Lim said ICDM had always been in talks with the regulators and other people within the ecosystem to improve the directors' community sector.

ICDM, a newly established one-stop professional institution for directors, recognised and supported by the Securities Commission, Bank Negara Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia, was officially launched on Oct 1, 2018.

She added Malaysia had improved a lot in terms of governance as the 2018 Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) report, a regional report on corporate governance, listed Malaysia at the fourth place in 2018, compared to seventh place in 2016.

“The report also mentioned the regulatory framework was very good, better CG (corporate governance) rules and audit regulators. (Even) in those senses, we are at top-notch, but we also need improvements in enforcement. 

“When we talk about enforcement, it is about insider trading, insider dealing, for example, so you want to see more authorities coming out and not (just) handling one case per year, the enforcement needs to be constant,” she said.

When asked about ICDM’s collaboration with other countries, Lim said they have been engaging with few countries in the region as well as Australia and the UK.

“We want to work towards being ASEAN’s champion in governance like Australia, and we are also looking into offering our programmes to developing countries such as in Bangladesh and Africa. ICDM also learns from other countries’ models and adjust it with our environment,” Lim said.

To create a greater ecosystem in directors world, ICDM is organising inaugural International Directors Summit (IDS) on Oct 14-15 here that will gather global corporate leaders and directors to network, collaborate, exchange insights and meet with the greatest minds in governance to take on the largest issues facing the boardrooms of today.

Lim said through this summit, ICDM aimed to encourage the voices of ASEAN directors' community.

“We want to look into how we can pool together our ASEAN resources, the pool of directors, across the ASEAN countries and the rest of the world.

“I have to note that the UK and Australia are also eyeing ASEAN because of its robust growth recently. They are looking at directorship talents because they need skillful directors on board,” she said.

The two-day event themed ‘The Trust Compass: Resetting The Course’ will also see talks and concurrent sessions involving prominent directors from local and international.

Those interested may register at https://www.icdm.com.my/ids2019/?utm_source=bnm&utm_medium=ids2019, call 03-22022022 (David Bareng/Khabir) or mail to marketing@icdm.com.my.

-- BERNAMA