In addition to complying with section 5B.2, issuers must comply with the following specific requirements concerning corporate governance and must disclose their compliance therewith in their annual report:
- there must be a policy detailing the procedures for appointments to the board of directors. Such appointments must be formal and transparent and a matter for the board of directors as a whole, assisted where appropriate by a nomination committee. The nomination committee must constitute only non-executive directors, of whom the majority must be independent, and must be chaired by the chairman of the board of directors or the lead independent director if required pursuant to section 5.11(c) below;
- there must be a policy evidencing a clear balance of power and authority at board of directors’ level, to ensure that no one director has unfettered powers of decision-making;
- the issuer must have an appointed chief executive officer and a chairman and these positions must not be held by the same person. The chairman must either be an independent non-executive director, or the issuer must appoint a lead independent director, in accordance with King Code;
- all issuers must, in compliance with King Code appoint an audit committee and a remuneration committee and if required, given the nature of the business and composition of the board of directors, a risk and nomination committee. The composition of such committees, a brief description of their mandates, the number of meetings held and other relevant information must be disclosed in the annual report;
- a brief CV of each director must be provided in respect of a new listing. It should further be noted that a brief CV for each director standing for election or re-election at a general meeting or the annual general meeting should accompany the notice of the general meeting or annual general meeting;
- the capacity of each director must be categorised as executive, nonexecutive or independent, using the following as guidelines to determine which category is most applicable to each director:
- executive directors: are directors that are involved in the management of the company and/or in full-time salaried employment of the company and/or any of its subsidiaries;
- non-executive directors are directors that are not:
- involved in the day to day management of the business, or 112
- full-time salaried employees of the company and/or any of its subsidiaries;
- Independent directors are as defined in King Code. In addition, it must be noted that any director that participates in a share incentive/option scheme, will not be regarded as independent;
- all issuers must have an executive financial director. The BSE may, at its discretion, when requested to do so by the issuer and due to the existence of special circumstances, allow the financial director to be employed on a part time basis only. This request must be accompanied by a detailed motivation by the issuer and the audit committee; and
- the audit committee must consider, on an annual basis, and satisfy itself of the appropriateness of the expertise and experience of the financial director. The issuer must confirm this by reporting to shareholders in its annual report that the audit committee has executed this responsibility.
- the board of directors must consider and satisfy itself, on an annual basis, on the competence, qualifications and experience of the company secretary. The issuer must confirm this by reporting to shareholders in its annual report that the board of directors has executed this responsibility. This communication must specifically include details of the steps which the board of directors took to make this annual assessment as well as providing information which demonstrates the actual competence, qualifications and experience of the company secretary; and
- the recommended practice of the King Code highlights, inter alia, that the company secretary should maintain an arms-length relationship with the board of directors and that the company secretary should ideally not be a director. The board of directors must specifically consider these two points and provide an explanation in the annual report as to why it believes that there is an arms-length relationship between itself and the company secretary.
If the company secretary is a director of the company or if the board of directors otherwise concludes that there is not an arms-length relationship between itself and the company secretary, the board of directors must justify how the issuer is still able to ensure that the company secretary effectively performs the role as the gatekeeper of good governance in the issuer and how they have been able to adequately and effectively perform and carry out the roles and duties of a company secretary.
Where the company secretary is a juristic person the board of directors in its assessment must consider the individual/s who perform the company secretary role as well as the directors and shareholders of the juristic person. The imposition of a juristic person in itself does not create an arms-length relationship. - the board of directors or the nomination committee, as the case may be, must have a policy on the promotion of gender diversity at board level. The issuer must confirm this by reporting to shareholders in its annual report on how the board of directors or the nomination committee, as the case 113 may be, have considered and applied the policy of gender diversity in the nomination and appointment of directors. If applicable, the board of directors or the nomination committee must further report progress in respect thereof on agreed voluntary targe