By S BIRRUNTHA / Pic By RAZAK GHAZALI

AMMB Holdings Bhd, Bursa Malaysia Bhd and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) have emerged as the top three among all Malaysian publicly listed companies (PLCs) in the Asean Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) assessment.

The Minority Shareholders Watch Group (MSWG) said the 2019 ACGS Awards recognised Asean PLCs based on three award categories, namely Top 20 Asean PLCs, Asean Asset Class Award and Top 3 PLCs per Country.

It added that the ACGS assessment is a collective effort of the Asean Capital Markets Forum and the Asian Development Bank, as part of the Asean corporate governance initiative introduced in 2011.

It aims to raise corporate governance standards and practices among Asean PLCs, as well as to acknowledge the well-governed Asean companies.

Six out of the ten Asean member countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam participated in the assessment.

Seven Malaysian PLCs were shortlisted for the Top 20 Asean PLCs category.

“They are namely AMMB, Axiata Group Bhd, Bursa, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Maybank, Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PetDag) and RHB Bank Bhd,” said MSWG in a statement.

As for the Asean Asset Class Award, there were 37 Malaysian PLCs out of the 135 Asean winners.

They were Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd, Allianz Malaysia Bhd, AMMB, Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Axiata, BIMB Holdings Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Bursa, Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, CIMB, Digi.Com Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd, IJM Corp Bhd, LPI Capital Bhd, Maybank, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Malaysia Building Society Bhd, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd.

The remaining were PetDag, Petronas Gas Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, S P Setia Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd, Sunway Bhd, Sunway Construction Group Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, UEM Sunrise Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, Velesto Energy Bhd, Westports Holdings Bhd and Yinson Holdings Bhd.

According to MSWG, the Asean Asset Class Award seeks to recognise all the Asean PLCs that obtained a score of 97.5 points (or at least 75% of the maximum attainable score of 130) in the assessment.