Rising trend for independent sourcing of directors - ICDM

KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Bernama) -- The Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia (ICDM) foresees rising requests for independent sourcing for director placement from its registry this year.

ICDM president and chief executive officer Michele Kythe Lim said in 2021, the institute received 87 independent sourcing requests compared to 42 in 2020 and successfully placed 12 directors in the first four months of this year.

"The Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) 2021 emphasised the need for independent sourcing for board candidates; hence there was a jump because we are one of the few independent sources for board candidates.

"A lot of companies were looking to place independent directors on their board through independent sources," she said in a media briefing today.

The jump can be attributed to Budget 2022 which stated that large companies need to have at least one female director on their board by this September, and public listed companies (PLCs) by June next year, Lim said.

"We are pleased to note that we have a huge repository of very good quality female candidates, and we expect a similar trend in terms of the jump on sourcing requests this year," she added.

Currently, ICDM has a total of 788 director candidates in its director registry; a third of them are females and 22 per cent are below 50 years old.

ICDM has a total of 933 individual members and 66 corporate members at the end of April 2022, a rise of 39 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively, year-on-year.

Females make up 35 per cent of its total membership base with 28 per cent below 50.

"For corporate members, 58 per cent are PLCs, 34 per cent are private companies, and eight per cent are government-linked investment companies (GLICs) or government agencies.

"We are also happy to note that we have officially crossed the 1,000-member mark on May 31, 2022, with a total of 968 individual members and 68 corporate members," said Michele.

-- BERNAMA