The listing department of TSE calculated the scores and determined the level of corporate governance in the listed companies of Tehran Stock Exchange.
“One of our programs in 2013 was the corporate governance index launching. Accordingly, at the first step, we prepared a comparative study of rating methods in the world”, mentioned Mr. Rohollah Hosseini Moghaddam, the department’s director.
“Rating companies in terms of Corporate Governance, assesses CG policies, respecting the interests of stakeholders by listed companies”, he continued.
“Average score of Corporate Governance for listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange is about 57 out of 100. Average rating of corporate governance in the main board of first market is 62; for the sub-prime board of the first market is 59 and 57 is the CG score for the secondary market. The scores of pharmaceutical industry, and household appliances and electrical business are respectively 71 and 47 points, the highest and the lowest scores. Sectors such as banking and leasing, insurance, cement and construction respectively with scores of 70, 65, 62 and 61 are in the next ranking places”, Mr. Moghaddam asserted.
The director of Listing department added that Iran capital market requires more attention to the rights of minority shareholders, and stakeholders especially in the listed companies. Fair view of the rights of shareholders, is the need to achieve a system of corporate governance in Iran. Undoubtedly, development of Iran capital market, without taking the retail investors and their savings into account may be crushed. International experience suggests that the development of the securities market, according to the rights of all stakeholders, particularly retail shareholders is required.
In the other hand, maintaining the capital markets with the international standards, especially with a system of corporate governance can be effective in attracting foreign investors.
Average rating of corporate governance is currently 57 and it seems with respect to the actions taken in the area of internal controls, increasing the quality of disclosure, better quality of meetings, and finally approval of corporate governance guidelines can help improve this rate. Furthermore, a ranking index of corporate governance will be provided in Tehran Stock Exchange in the near future.