Back to Global Corporate Governance Trends for 2026
Singapore’s corporate landscape continues to evolve in line with heightened expectations of board accountability and regulatory updates. Early indications from the Singapore Directorship Report 2025 show a significant renewal of independent directors and progress in board diversity. These developments are encouraging to governance stakeholders, and boards in Singapore will do well to build on this momentum and focus on creating greater impact with a stronger bench of potential directors coming into play. In 2026, boards can expect and plan for their agendas to prioritize discussions on refreshment opportunities.
2026 will see the country embark on renewed efforts to deepen capital market vibrancy, with an aim to both enhance corporate governance standards and reinforce investor confidence. Building on the outcomes of the 2025 Equities Market Review Group Final Report, reforms such as the SGX-Nasdaq dual-listing bridge and the Value Unlock program are being operationalized to expand access to global capital and improve liquidity in domestic equities. There will be closer scrutiny over M&A discipline, return on invested capital, dividend and capital management policies, and the alignment among strategy, risk appetite and incentive design. Boards will be expected to demonstrate clearer decision rationales, and more rigorous post-investment reviews are likely to get more of their attention.
The ongoing review of the Code of Corporate Governance by the Corporate Governance Advisory Committee complements these market initiatives, underscoring Singapore’s commitment to a disclosure-based, transparent and investor-centric ecosystem. Companies are expected to embed stronger governance practices in areas such as AI oversight, climate transition planning and data security.
Correspondingly, there will likely be a heightened focus on board effectiveness and performance beyond structural compliance. Regulators and institutional investors are paying closer attention to how boards exercise judgment, challenge management and oversee strategy and risk in practice. As a result, board effectiveness processes are expected to demand a more rigorous approach, with clearer linkages among board renewal, objective skills matrices and long-term corporate strategy development. Forward-looking boards and committees are adapting their review processes to be more purpose-driven and exploratory, and in some cases are increasingly looking beyond internally led evaluations.
zh-CN
登录
