The 7th Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance took place in Bali, Indonesia, on 8-9 September 2005. The principal agenda items for the conference included (i) corporate governance of banks, (ii) a stock take of progress in policy reforms since the publication of the Asian White Paper in 2003, (iii) the role of the board in implementing the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, and (iv) corporate governance of state-owned enterprises.

After an introduction by amongst others the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on the topic of corporate governance of banks, the Task Force on Corporate Governance of Banks presented a draft Policy Brief. Subsequently the draft report titled “2005 Stock Taking of Corporate Governance Related Developments in Asian Roundtable Economies” was presented.

Furthermore the Advisory Group to the OECD that is drafting the “Boardroom Guide to the OECD principles of Corporate Governance”, stressed in their presentation that the Boardroom Guide will focus on an aspect of corporate governance generic to all jurisdictions: what takes place in or should take place in the boardroom. Public consultation on the Boardroom Guide is anticipated in the near future.

In the session about corporate governance of state owned enterprises both the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises were presented and the first findings of the Task Force on Corporate Governance of SOEs.

Finally, after the session dealing with related activities, including (a) the OECD programme on Corporate Governance of Non Listed Companies, (b) the Academic Network of Asian Corporate Governance Specialists, and (c) the activities of IDEA.Net (the association of Asian institutes of directors), in the closing session the two key areas for the Roundtable’s agenda in the coming year were identified to be (i) corporate governance of SOEs, and (ii) enforcement of corporate governance legislation / regulation.

For more information on the Asian Corporate Governance Roundtable

Agenda

Synthesis Note

Welcoming Remarks

• Mr. Mats Isaksson, Head of Corporate Affairs Division, OECD
• Professor Stijn Claessens, Senior Adviser in the Financial Sector Vice-Presidency of the World Bank
• Mr. Agus Muhammad, Inspector General, Ministry of Finance, Indonesia

Presentations

Session 1: Corporate Governance of Banks

• Mr. Jason George, Senior Economist (Supervision) Bank for International Settlements, Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific ( Paper / Powerpoint Presentation )

• Professor Joseph Fan, School of Accountancy and the Department of Finance, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Session 2: Asia Roundtable Task Force on Corporate Governance of Banks – Finalisation of draft Policy Brief

• Mr. Motoyuki Yufu, Principal Administrator, OECD, in co-operation with the Task Force members (Paper / Powerpoint Presentation )

Session 3: Stock-take of Developments in Corporate Governance in Asia

• Mr. Louis Bouchez, Principal Administrator, Corporate Affairs Division OECD
• Mr. Jamie Allen, Secretary-General Asian Corporate Governance Association
• Professor Kyung Suh Park, Asian Institute of Corporate Governance, Business School Korea University ( Paper / Powerpoint Presentation )

Session 4: A Boardroom Guide to the OECD Principles on Corporate Governance

• Mr. Peter Dey, Partner, Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, Barristers and Solicitors, Canada

Session 5: The OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises

• Mr. Mats Isaksson, Head of Corporate Affairs Division, OECD, (on behalf of Mathilde Mesnard)

Session 6: Asian Roundtable Task Force on Corporate Governance of SOEs – Interim Report

• Mr. John Lim (President, Singapore Institute of Directors; Chairman of ARCG Task Force on Corporate Governance of State Owned Enterprises) together with Mr. Louis Bouchez (Principal Administrator, Corporate Affairs, OECD) reported on the preliminary findings of the Task Force on Corporate Governance of SOEs.

Session 7: Reporting on Related Activities

• Mr. Charnchai Charuvastr, President Thai Institute of Directors, on the activities of IDEA.Net and the role of institutes of directors in developing Asian good corporate governance
• Prof. Kyung Suk Park reported on the first meeting of the Academic Network of Ana CG Specialists.
• Mr. Sumant Batra, Senior Partner Kesar Dass B & Assoicates, Advocates & Solicitors, India, of the Synthesis Report of the OECD International Experts Meeting on Corporate Governance of Non Listed Companies ( Paper / Powerpoint Presentation )

Session 8: Summary and Next Steps of the Asian Roundtable work

• Synthesis Note