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Capital Market Authority Oman launches Corporate Governance Excellence Award Competition 2011

After the success of the last year Corporate Governance Excellence Award Competition, 2010 and the positive responses Oman Centre for Corporate Governance has received from the participants, Capital Market Authority calls on all participants to register for this year competition 2011.

This competition is the first of its kind in the Sultanate and reflects the considerable development Oman has achieved in corporate governance on the regional and international levels.

Certainly this competition would enable the companies to identify the points of strength and weakness that needs more development and attention. Furthermore, the competition would contributed to educating the companies to apply best corporate governance practices which would reflect on their performance as well as boosting CMA's efforts in enhancing investors' confidence in the financial and investment market which would have positive impact on the national economy.

The Award has now extended its reach to include all MSM listed companies, all insurance companies, and all brokerage companies.

Sayyid Hamid Sultan Al-Busaidi, the senior director of Oman Centre for Corporate Governance said that The objectives of the Corporate Governance Excellence Award are to raise awareness of the benefits of greater transparency and accountability to stakeholders, to drive innovative competition among Oman's best listed companies, and to encourage companies to comply with the Code of Corporate Governance. also to contribute in raising the efficiency of the stock market. Furthermore the award will attract the local and international investor which in return will enhance the national economy.

Last year's Awards were a great success with the prize for overall winner of corporate governance excellence in Oman going to Oman Cables Industry for their outstanding contributions towards maintaining high corporate governance standards. The facilitation of the award was conducted by an independent firm; Protiviti Member Firm (.M.E.).

There were 25 companies participated in the award last year from different sectors.

In the Industry category, the second runner-up award went to Taghleef Industries; the fist runner up award to Dhofar Cattle Feed; and the winner of the category was Oman Cables Industry. In the Services and Insurance category, the second runner up award went to Port Services Corporation; the first runner up was Renaissance Services; and Shell Oman Marketing was the winner of the category. In the Banking and Investment category, the second runner up award went to National Bank of Oman; the first runner up award went to Bank Muscat; and the winner of the category was Ahli Bank.

The regionally publicised ceremony was attended by government Ministers, Undersecretaries, in addition to the Board Members and Key Executives of the participating companies. The awards were jointly presented by Protiviti, the Minister for Commerce and Industry, and Key Executives of the CMA who all delivered inspiring speeches throughout the evening's proceedings.

The competition this year has again been divided into three categories with an ultimate supreme winner. These categories are; Banking & Investment; Industry; and Services & Insurance.

The facilitation of the competition has also been awarded to Protiviti Member Firm (M.E.), an independent provider of Business & Risk Consulting and Internal Audit services, which fully understands the expert requirements of corporate governance excellence evaluation.

The framework for this year's assessment is comprised of compliance based elements and fundamentals relating to globally recognized best practices for corporate governance. The basis for this assessment still lies within the four pillars of good corporate governance, which were reflected in the design for the 2010 Award for Corporate Governance Excellence. These pillars are Board Independence & Effectiveness, Transparency & Disclosure, Control & Risk Management, and Shareholder Rights & Responsibilities. Additional emphasis has also been placed on I.T. governance practices, corporate culture, and corporate social responsibility.

The evaluation process has been developed to include two stages of assessment. Companies have been asked to complete an initial questionnaire, relating to the corporate governance practices of the participating companies, and submit this directly to Protiviti. The results of this stage will enable Protiviti to shortlist the contestants exhibiting the best skills, values and qualities at the core of their good corporate governance in order to conduct in-depth interviews that will measure industry specific criteria within each category of contestants. Shortlisted companies will be notified by Protiviti and provided with an advanced-level secondary questionnaire. This will enable the shortlisted companies to prepare for the interviews in advance. Once the separate evaluation of each stage is concluded, the results will be passed on to the CMA's independent Judging Panel to cast their final vote on the winners.

The competition will conclude with an award ceremony, which is to take place in December of this year. The winners of each category shall be announced during the ceremony, in addition to the announcement of the overall winner for corporate governance excellence 2011.

Hence, all public joint stock companies, insurance companies and brokerage companies are invited to take part in this competition.

Capital Market Authority Oman launches Corporate Governance Excellence Award Competition 2011

After the success of the last year Corporate Governance Excellence Award Competition, 2010 and the positive responses Oman Centre for Corporate Governance has received from the participants, Capital Market Authority calls on all participants to register for this year competition 2011.

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