First Annual Corporate Governance Conference -CGC-News

Post Conference

The first Corporate Governance conference was held at Alfaisal University on Wednesday, the 17th of May 2017. The conference attracted a large number of participants from both government and private sectors. The conference consisted of two sessions: The first started with a welcoming message from the Dean of the College of Business, Dr Bajis Dodin, followed by a presentation on the Corporate Governance Index (CGI) project. Dr Necati Ayden, the Technical Leader of the project and Dr Ahmed Alanazi, the Quality Assurance leader delivered the CGI presentation. In this presentation, the team explained to the audience all the steps and processes used in constructing the index for the fiscal year of 2015. The presentation can be obtained by downloading the CGI booklet

After the CGI presentation, Prof Stephen Davis from Harvard Law School, the external consultant of the CGI project presented the keynote speech titled “Value of Good Corporate Governance for Investors and Economy”. A short break of 20 minutes for Maghreb prayer and some refreshments was followed.

The second session started by the First Panel, It is a Government Authorities Panel titled “The Role of Good CG to Integrate with Global Economy Within 2030 Vision”. The panel was moderated by Drs Necati and Ahmed from CGC and there were three government officials: Dr Ayedh Alotaibi representing Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), Dr Abdullah Almahmod representing the Ministry of Commerce and Investment (MCI) and Mr Majid Almajid representing the Capital Market Authority (CMA). The panel discussed several important issues related to Corporate Governance and challenges facing the government to encourage stronger corporate governance culture. Audience were given opportunity to ask the panellists questions related to their respective functions.

Then the second panel started and it was designed for private sectors. The panel was moderated by again Drs Ahmed and Necati. There were four participants: Mr Gavin Leake, the senior consultant to the CEO of Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB), Mr. Baker Alhboob, the CEO consultant to the Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (MAADEN), Mr Wajdi Alghabban, the CEO of Saudi Airlines Catering Group and Dr Mohammed Lutfi the Legal Consultant and Corporate Governance Director at Arabian Cement Co. The participants talked about corporate governance practices and their impact in their respective companies and answered the audiences’ questions.

The conference ended by announcing the companies with the top five CGI score. Each of these five presented an awards by his Excellency Dr Mohammed Alhayaza, Alfaisal University president. The five companies are:

• First Place: Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB), Sector: Financials (Banks)
• Second Place: Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (MAADEN), Sector: Materials
• Third Place (1): Saudi Airlines Catering Co. (Catering), Sector: Industrials (Commercial & Professional Svc)
• Third Place (2): Almarai Co., Sector: Consumer Staples (Food & Beverages)
• Fifth Place: Arabian Cement Co. (ACC), Sector: Materials

Also in this segment names of companies that achieved a CGI score of 80 or above were announced. It was also announced that a detailed company CGI report can be requested by visiting the CGC website.

The CG Team will continue the work for the second CGI round by measuring the CG performance based on the fiscal year of 2016 information. The team will benefit from the experience of this year and the feedback obtained from the participants in revising the CG principle, expanding the CG principles and include more variables and measurements. Furthermore, the team aims to construct sub-indices for the Banking and Insurance industries due to the relevant additional regulations.

The CG Team believes on continuing improvement. It is determined to make the Corporate Governance Centre of Alfaisal University The Centre for CG research and training. It will be sought after by the business community inside the Kingdom and in other GCC countries.

Snap shots from the conference: