Study on the compliance of the Belgian Corporate Governance Code 2009 by the BEL 20 companies
GUBERNA et la FEDERATION OF BELGIAN ENTREPRISES (VBO-FEB) published their most recent study on the application of the Belgian Corporate Governance Code 2009 of the BEL 20 and gives a first glimpse of current corporate governance practices in the BEL 20.
Since a few years, GUBERNA and the Federation of Entreprises in Belgium analyse to what extent the listed companies respect the Belgian Corporate Governance Code ('to respect' meaning to apply the Code or explain why they do not apply). The present study is the first part of a more profound study on the corporate governance practices of the Belgian listed companies.
A detailed analysis shows that a great part of the Code's dispositions are respected by (almost) all BEL 20 companies.
Several dispositions still prove to be difficult to respect, such as share-related remuneration, and the evaluation of the board of directors. For the latter, only 10 companies indicate they performed an assessment of the board; the other companies have not given clear information in this respect.
For other aspects, the researchers stress the need for more sensibilisation. They ask the Corporate Governance Committee to support the listed companies in the application of certain dispositions, for example for the policy on conflicts of interest.
Executive summary (French version) Executive summary (Dutch version) The full report (French version) The full report (Dutch version)