Corporate Governance

The Board considers the importance of putting the right people, with the range of skills, knowledge and experience together in order for effective governance of the Group's business. The GNC assists the Board in ensuring that the Board is comprised of individuals whose background, skills, experience and personal characteristics will enhance the present Board and meet its future needs.

Based on the recommendations of the GNC, the Board has laid down a preliminary set of assessment criteria to assess the effectiveness of the Board as a whole and contribution of each director to the effectiveness of the Board. The performance criteria for the Board evaluation covers amongst other criteria, Board performance in relation to discharging its principal functions and Board Committee performance in relation to discharging the responsibilities set out in their respective terms of reference. The individual Directors' performance criteria are in relation to their industry knowledge and/or functional expertise, contribution, sense of independence and participation at Board meetings. During the year, the GNC carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Board, the individual Board Members and the Chairman of the Board. The Chairman of the Board, in consultation with the GNC Chairman, has set up review meetings with individual Board Members with a view to sharing this feedback and working out action plans to address specific feedback issues with each individual Board Member.

In the course of the year, the GNC also reviewed the adequacy and relevance of the assessment criteria for the evaluation of individual Directors and the Board.

It is expected that this process would help the Board uncover its strengths and challenges so that the Board would be in a position to further improve on the discharge of its oversight duties.