Board Diversity Policy
POLICY STATEMENT
Global Investments Limited (“the Company”) recognises and embraces the benefits of having a diverse board of directors (“Board”), and endeavours to include a broad range of factors in its selection of directors.
The Company believes that a diverse Board will contribute to the achievement of its strategic and commercial objectives, including to:
1. drive business results;
2. make corporate governance more effective;
3. enhance quality and responsible decision-making capability;
4. ensure sustainable development; and
5. enhance the reputation of the Company.
SCOPE OF APPLICATION
This Policy applies only to the Board of the Company.
DIVERSITY CRITERIA
The Nomination and Governance Committee (“NGC”) reviews and assesses the Board composition on behalf of the Board and recommends the appointment of appropriately qualified persons to occupy Board positions when necessary.
While all appointments to the Board will continue to be made on merit, the Company pledges its commitment to promote diversity as a key attribute of a well-functioning and effective Board by harnessing the variety of skills, industry and business experiences, gender, age, ethnicity and culture, geographical background and nationalities, tenure of service, and other distinguishing qualities of the members of the Board. Criteria such as skill sets, regional and industry experience, cultural and geographical background, age, tenure, ethnicity, race and gender will be considered in determining the optimum composition of the Board and when possible, should be balanced appropriately.
Accordingly, the NGC will:
1. consider all aspects of diversity in order to arrive at an optimum balanced composition of the Board;
2. make recommendations to the Board in relation to appointments, based on merit against an objective range of criteria that complements and expands the skills and experience of the Board as a whole, and after having given due regard to the overall balance and effectiveness of a diverse Board;
3. when sourcing for new Board candidate, to take into consideration the identified objectives or targets, e.g. gender, age or tenure diversity, and any other diversity targets which may be adopted by the Board from time to time;
4. to meet the gender diversity objective, when seeking to identify a new Director for appointment to the Board, the NGC will request for female candidates to be fielded for consideration; and
5. periodically review and report to the Board requirements, if any, in relation to diversity on the Board.
The NGC and the Board shall review and determine the targets, plans and timelines as well as progress being made thereof towards achieving each of the Board diversity aspects on an annual basis or as and when circumstances require, taking into consideration how the combination of skills, talents, experience and diversity of Board members would continue to serve the needs and plans of the Company.
MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES
The Board has established the following diversity objectives:
Diversity Targets, Plans and Timelines
(1) Gender diversity
To continue maintaining the present level of gender diversity by having:
- at least one (1) suitably qualified female director.
In the event of a Board vacancy either due to resignation or increase in Board size, the Board may fill more than one (1) suitably qualified female candidates so long as the minimum number of one (1) female director is maintained.
(2) Age diversity
To maintain the following level of age diversity:
- by having a standard deviation of at least 12 years as the age spread between younger and older directors. That is, if the average age of all directors on the Board is 60 years old, the age spread may range from 48 to 72 years.
In the event of a Board vacancy either due to resignation or increase in Board size, the Board will take into consideration the above age diversity target in the selection and appointment process.
(3) Tenure diversity
To continue maintaining the present level of tenure diversity by having:
- at least a majority of independent directors with less than 9 years’ tenure of service; and
- at least one (1) director with more than 10 years’ tenure of service.
The above criteria takes into consideration continuity of service as well as the 9-year tenure limit for independent directors and the minimum number of independent directors prescribed by the SGX-ST listing rules and the Code of Corporate Governance 2018.
(4) Skills & Experience
To maintain the present level of diversity in knowledge, skill sets and experience:
Board’s core competency skills matrix:
- General Management & Business Operations
- Accounting & Finance
- Investment
- Strategic Planning & Risk Management
- Legal & Regulatory
- Senior Management Experience (>10 years)
- International Experience
The Board shall comprise a mix of Directors with the above core competencies mix who have significant experience in senior roles or extensive career experience in senior executive, director or professional roles (i.e. expert in field).
REVIEW OF POLICY
The NGC will discuss and agree annually the criteria for achieving diversity on the Board and recommend them to the Board for adoption. At any given time, the Board may seek to improve one or more aspects of its diversity and measure progress accordingly.