'Shareholders' activism should be encouraged in corporate companies'

Shareholders' activism should be encouraged to protect insiders' victimisation to the external investors in the country's corporate sector.
These views were expressed by Programme Manager, Corporate Governance of International Finance Corporation (IFC), Kaiser Naseem, at a workshop on 'Corporate Governance-Media Reporting', organised by the Centre of International Private Enterprise (CIPE), a non-profit affiliate of the United States Chamber of Commerce and IFC here on Wednesday.
The international best practices in corporate governance should be implemented to enhance the profitability of a company that also help improve the structure and control, he said. Naseem said the Corporation has submitted a draft on corporate governance guidelines for commercial banks to the country's central bank.
He said, it was in IFC's own interest to reduce risk of investments by improving governance of investor companies. The corporate governance is a priority for the IFC because it presents opportunities for it to manage its risk and add value to clients.
He focused on independent competent board capable of exercising the company's strategic and monitoring functions. Good governance should not be part of more than one board, he added. He said that IFC was also working with commercial banks to educate officers to reduce cost of capital and provide best services to borrowers.
The IFC is also involved and is working with prominent business institutions like Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums), Institute of Business Administration (IBA), and the Hamdard Institute of Management Sciences (Hims) to include corporate governance as a subject in their final MBA course plan.
The IFC, in addition was holding seminars and workshops on the issue to highlight the corporate governance besides being engaged with Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG) in its capacity building," he said.
The second session, conducted by the Editor Reporting, The News, Kamal Siddiqui stressed that journalists should stick to responsible reporting regarding corporate affairs. He also emphasised to make investigative reporting about companies involved in negligence, inefficiencies and corruption.