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Pwint Thit Sa Transparency in Myanmar Enterprises Fifth Report | 2019 +95 1 512613 | [email protected] | www.mcrb.org.mm Pwint Thit Sa is intended to encourage better corporate governance and increased transparency by Myanmar businesses. © Copyright Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) and Yever, April 2019. Published by TABLE OF CONTENTS MCRB and Yever. All rights reserved. MCRB and Yever permit free reproduction of extracts from this — publication provided that due acknowledgment is given and a copy of the publication carrying the extract is sent to MCRB or Yever. Requests for permission to reproduce and translate the publication ABBREVIATIONS 6 should also be addressed to MCRB or Yever. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 The Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) was set up in 2013 by the Institute of PART 1: INTRODUCTION 10 Human Rights and Business, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights with funding from several How Pwint Thit Sa contributes to building trust in Myanmar’s capital market 10 donor governments. Based in Yangon, it aims to provide a trusted and impartial platform for the Five years of Pwint Thit Sa 10 creation of knowledge, building of capacity, undertaking of advocacy and promotion of dialogue amongst businesses, civil society, governments, experts and other stakeholders, with the objective of encouraging Building trust 11 responsible business conduct throughout Myanmar. Responsible business means business conduct Greenwashing? 14 that works for the long-term interests of Myanmar and its people, based on responsible social and environmental performance within the context of international standards. MCRB receives funding from The business case for corporate governance and transparency in Myanmar 15 the governments of UK, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Ireland. Supporting improved company governance and performance 16 Professional advisers and auditors 17 Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business No.6 (A), Shin Saw Pu Road PART 2: DEVELOPMENTS SINCE THE 2018 PWINT THIT SA REPORT 18 Kayin Chan Ward, Ahlone Township, Yangon, Myanmar Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan 2018-2030 18 [email protected] www.myanmar-responsiblebusiness.org and www.mcrb.org.mm State-owned economic enterprises (SEEs) 18 Military Owned Enterprises 19 Legislative developments in corporate governance and disclosure 20 Based in Yangon, Yever is a consultancy offering custom made solutions to corporate leaders. We aim Myanmar Companies Law 20 to foster their company business transformation while building their market leadership responsibly and sustainably. Established in 2016, our team combines Myanmar talents and international expertise. The Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) directives 23 key of our business is trust. Earning and sustaining the trust of our customers, partners, employees Securities Exchange Commission 25 and all other stakeholders drive all of our actions. Myanmar Investment Law and Rules 28 Environmental impact assessment 30 Yever 28B Kyauk Kone Road, Room 6B Developments in combatting corruption 31 Yankin Township, Yangon, Myanmar Legal framework for combatting corruption 33 [email protected] www.yever.org Money laundering 35 Beneficial ownership 36 The research and writing of this report was undertaken by Vicky Bowman, Phyu Phyu Zin, and Wint Mon Tax reform 39 Eindra Thwin of MCRB, and Nicolas Delange and Maddy aka Pa Pa Htet of Yever. Tom Davy and Gianluca Development partner initiatives in corporate governance and anti-corruption 41 Ferritu also contributed while attached to MCRB. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. The mention of specific companies does not imply that they are recommended by MCRB IFC’s Myanmar Corporate Governance Initiative 41 or Yever. The ranking is not intended to make judgments to the business performance of companies. Myanmar Institute of Directors (MIoD) 42 Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 43 Cover photo: “Nelumbo nucifera” / Alexey Matveichev United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 43 Back cover photo: “Lotus” / Josie Liao UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 43 Developments in disclosure and transparency in Myanmar 44 Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) 44 Civil society and the media 44 2 3 PART 3: EMERGING ISSUES FOR CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN MYANMAR 47 FIGURE 1: Score breakdown by type of company 8 Non-financial reporting 47 FIGURE 2: Distribution of companies’ scores 9 EU non-financial eportingr requirement 47 FIGURE 3: Comparison of financial sector and other sectors by company type 60 Sustainability and stock exchanges 48 Reporting frameworks 48 BOX 1: Corporate transparency and trust: Yangon Metropolitan Development Stakeholder engagement and materiality analysis 50 Company 13 Donations and ‘do no harm’ 51 BOX 2: MCRB partnership with Yever 14 Gender equality and diversity in business leadership 52 BOX 3: MCRB publications for business 16 Human rights and modern slavery 53 BOX 4: Definition of beneficial owner agreed by the EITI Multistakeholder Group 38 BOX 5: Definition of politically exposed person agreed by the EITI Multistakeholder PART 4: THE 2019 PWINT THIT SA REPORT 54 Group 39 Methodology 54 BOX 6: What is the Myanmar Corporate Governance Scorecard 2018? 42 Selection of benchmarking criteria 55 BOX 7: What is the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard? 54 Sources of information considered 56 Selection of companies for inclusion 57 TABLE 1: Issues covered in Pwint Thit Sa 2019 scoring 55 Website assessment and company engagement 57 TABLE 2: Coverage of ACGS level 1 criteria by Pwint Thit Sa criteria 56 Scoring 58 TABLE 3: ACGS and <IR> criteria used in Pwint Thit Sa 2019 56 Limitations of the research methodology 59 TABLE 4: Average score by company type 59 Results 59 TABLE 5: Top 30 Companies assessed in Pwint Thit Sa 2019 with the most disclosure of information 61 PART 5: RECOMMENDATIONS 63 TABLE 6: Top 10 State-owned economic enterprises (SEEs) 62 To Myanmar companies 63 TABLE 7: Top 10 public companies 62 To the Myanmar government, and the SECM 65 To the Anti-Corruption Commission 68 To Parliament 68 To Myanmar civil society organisations and the media 68 To the investor community 68 ANNEX 1: FULL TABLE OF RESULTS 69 ANNEX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE 76 4 5 ABBREVIATIONS ACGS ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard EXECUTIVE This is the fifthPwint Thit Sa/Transparency in Myanmar Enterprises (TiME) — ACMF ASEAN Capital Markets Forum SUMMARY report. It assesses information disclosure on the corporate websites of 248 — large Myanmar companies. Encouraging corporate transparency supports ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations Myanmar’s achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16. BoD Board of Directors Sixty-six more companies were assessed in 2019 compared to the 2018 CG Corporate Governance Pwint Thit Sa report, using twice as many dimensions and criteria. This makes Pwint Thit Sa 2019 the most ambitious public report ever published CSR Corporate Social Responsibility about the state of corporate disclosure (CD) in Myanmar. It examines publicly DfID Department for International Development listed and ‘public’ companies, and privately-owned companies which are influential or significant taxpayers. For the first time, Pwint Thit Sa includes DICA Directorate of Investment and Company Administration the corporate disclosure of all significant state-owned economic enterprises DNFBP Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (SEEs). ESG Environmental, Social and Governance The 2019 report, although based on the same principle of rating online FY Financial Year information disclosure by companies, continues with the approach adopted in 2018 by using the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) to IFC International Finance Corporation rate companies (Box 5). The ACGS is used widely in the region to assess KPI Key Performance Indicator disclosure of corporate governance by large companies and has also been used this year by Myanmar regulatory bodies to develop a Myanmar Corporate MCL Myanmar Companies Law Governance Scorecard to assess the current corporate governance practices MCRB Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business of twenty-four of the largest Myanmar companies. MIC Myanmar Investment Commission However not all ACGS criteria have been used for Pwint Thit Sa, and some additional performance criteria concerning sustainability and its relationship MIL Myanmar Investment Law to the company’s business model have been added in the 2019 Pwint Thit MIoD Myanmar Institute of Directors Sa report, aligned with the Integrated Reporting Framework <IR>. This is to MIR Myanmar Investment Rules challenge and stretch the leading companies. It also reflects the adoption in 2018 of the Sustainable Development Plan by the Myanmar Government. MSDP Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan The scoring methodology therefore uses 69 of the most relevant criteria from MyCO Myanmar Companies Register Online the ACGS (see Annex 2). It assesses four dimensions - Corporate Profile, NRGI Natural Resources Governance Institute Corporate Governance, Sustainability Management and Reporting - using 143 criteria (119 disclosure-based, 24 performance-based) with a maximum OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and possible score of 167 (119 Disclosure, 48 Performance). Further details are Development in the Methodology section in Part 4. OTC Over the Counter (an organized market for trading of The addition of more performance criteria, as well as new companies, means unlisted
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