Publication: Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Republic of Korea
Loading...
Published
2003-09
ISSN
Date
2013-07-23
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Since 1998, Korea has taken important steps to address the weaknesses that contributed to the economic crisis of 1997. The corporate governance framework has been strengthened significantly. The reform agenda, however, remains unfinished and the equity markets relative to other OECD countries remain underdeveloped. There has been good progress in upgrading accounting and auditing standards and practices, as well as strengthening underlying institutions responsible for setting standards and ensuring compliance. The Financial Supervisory Commission/Financial Supervisory Services have been established, and the role of the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants has been strengthened. Efforts should continue to further improve accounting standards and improve accounting and auditing practices, and include measures to clarify and strengthen the role and function of audit committees consistent with international best practices; replace statutory auditors with audit committees for smaller companies over time; and upgrade the skills and knowledge of audit committee members. While holding companies are allowed, only several of them have been established. In order to improve transparency and disclosures of chaebol-affiliated operations, consider several measures including measures that may change the incentives for large chaebol to establish holding companies (e.g. lower taxes). While significant improvements have been made to increase minority shareholder rights (e.g., by lowering or eliminating threshold ownership requirements) and the ease with which shareholders exercise those rights, further improvements are required, including measures to allow minority shareholders a greater voice in the selection of directors and steps to improve the process for nominating independent directors. While derivative actions are allowed, these are costly and therefore have been limited so far to only a few. The redress available to shareholders if their rights are violated remains limited, and there is no cost-effective way for them to seek redress. The draft law submitted to the National Assembly allowing class action lawsuits should be enacted as soon as possible. Securities laws have been amended to require listed companies to have outside directors. However, the concept of independent (outside) directors is new and still not well rooted in Korea. Additional efforts could include measures to expand the fiduciary duty of directors to shareholders and make it explicit under the law, and to limit liability of independent directors in cases in which they have acted in good faith.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2003. Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Republic of Korea. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14507 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes : Corporate Governance Country Assessment, Republic of Indonesia(Washington, DC, 2004-08)In reforming its corporate governance, and in establishing a rule-based business culture, Indonesia faces many challenges. The key challenges are as follows. Enforcement of laws and regulations needs to be strengthened. Administrative sanctions for violation of securities or disclosure rules may not be adequate. Efforts should be expended to ensure that corporate officials in the position of trust are held accountable when they violate the law. Sanctions should go beyond fines, and the incentive system should be changed so that violators are truly discouraged, and good corporate behavior is promoted. This requires strengthening enforcement capacity of Bapepam for securities violations, and its independence as the securities regulator. The Company Law should explicitly refer to the fiduciary duties of directors and managers for violation of securities laws. Current efforts to amend the Company Law need to be expedited. Further efforts should also be expended to develop alternative (non-judiciary) mechanisms, such as shareholder activism, for encouraging compliance.Publication Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Republic of Latvia(Washington, DC, 2002-12)This report provides an assessment of the corporate governance policy framework and enforcement and compliance practices in Latvia. Latvia has already invested considerable resources in upgrading its legislation to meet EU Directives, and the legislative and regulatory framework dealing with corporate governance issues is quite robust. Strengths and weaknesses are highlighted and policy recommendations made where appropriate. This report promotes private sector initiatives and capacity building to follow up on the legislative progress on corporate governance reform. It recommends the development of a Latvian or regional voluntary code of best practice of corporate governance.Publication Uses and Limits of Conventional Corporate Governance Instruments : Analysis and Guidance for Reform - Part One(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06)This private sector opinion seeks to demonstrate that while conventional governance mechanisms can be highly effective in many situations, they are not appropriate remedies in all contexts. In some cases, the prescribed medicine actually exacerbated the governance ailment that it was designed to cure. To illustrate, the rapid growth of executive compensation persisted and in some markets, accelerated after the introduction of individual executive pay disclosure. In the financial sector, the shift toward a board dominated by independent directors perceived by many to be key for effective monitoring of management ultimately proved to be its Achilles' heel as weak industry knowledge meant that non-executive directors were unable to pick up on warning signs of imprudent risk taking by management. This section will examine how the core set of corporate governance instruments comprising transparency, independent monitoring, economic incentives, shareholder rights, and financial liability has been applied to different issues and contexts. It will discuss the extent to which these mechanisms have been effective and analyze the limits of their application by surveying cases where they have failed to work as intended. In addition, it will set forth proposals to improve the use of specific tools and suggest how certain governance issues should be addressed.Publication Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Colombia(Washington DC, 2003-08)This report assesses the corporate governance policy framework, enforcement and compliance practices in Colombia. The capital markets are small relative to the economy and trading volume is low. The corporate sector is largely owned and controlled by family groups and conglomerates. The challenge is to create an environment where medium-sized companies can raise capital in the market and help them make the transition from tightly-controlled family firms to public companies. While pension funds represent a large and rapidly growing source of funds, they are reluctant to invest in equities. It has been demonstrated across countries that capital market development correlates positively with the degree of shareholder protection and good corporate governance. Awareness of the importance of corporate governance issues is growing. Success stories of privatizations linked with good corporate governance highlight the importance of the issue. Colombia is an interesting example of the interplay between legal changes and voluntary initiatives based on the incentive to attract capital. It has put a minimum corporate governance disclosure regime in place for companies that wish to be eligible for pension fund investments. The report makes policy recommendations that may be grouped under three broad headings: legislative reform, institutional strengthening and voluntary/private initiatives. The report recommends (1) adopting a securities bill as proposed by the securities regulator Supevalores; (2) adopting international standards and creating an independent audit oversight board; (3) improving enforcement; (4) enhancing compliance monitoring with the code of good governance; and (5) creating a director training organization.Publication Corporate Governance Country Assessment : Republic of South Africa(Washington, DC, 2003-07)This report assesses the corporate governance practices of listed companies in South Africa, within the broader context of the institutional capacity needed to ensure compliance and enforcement. The diagnostic reflects the corporate governance framework as of December 2001. South Africa has a well developed equity market with a market capitalization of 154 percent of GDP. Listed companies account for half of the corporate sector by value. As of 2001, on average, listed firms used equity financing for 35 percent of total funding. Given capital account restrictions, issuers operate largely in a captive market for domestic institutional investors. Institutional investors, however, take a passive attitude with respect to corporate governance. The policy recommendations herewith, can be grouped under three broad categories: legislative reform, institutional strengthening and voluntary/private initiatives. The legislative and regulatory framework dealing with corporate governance practices is undergoing substantial changes, and it is anticipated that most of the pending legislative and regulatory issues will be resolved. The most serious problems are compliance and enforcement. Hence, one of the key recommendations for policymakers is to strengthen the enforcement powers of the securities regulator.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication World Development Report 2017(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-01-30)Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? This book addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena. The capacity of actors to commit and their willingness to cooperate and coordinate to achieve socially desirable goals are what matter for effectiveness. However, who bargains, who is excluded, and what barriers block entry to the policy arena determine the selection and implementation of policies and, consequently, their impact on development outcomes. Exclusion, capture, and clientelism are manifestations of power asymmetries that lead to failures to achieve security, growth, and equity. The distribution of power in society is partly determined by history. Yet, there is room for positive change. This Report reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity. This happens by shifting the incentives of those with power, reshaping their preferences in favor of good outcomes, and taking into account the interests of previously excluded participants. These changes can come about through bargains among elites and greater citizen engagement, as well as by international actors supporting rules that strengthen coalitions for reform.Publication Doing Business in 2005(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004)2004 was a good year for doing business in most transition economies, the World Bank Group concluded in its Doing Business in 2005 survey, the second in its series tracking regulatory reforms aimed at improving the ease of doing business in the world's economies. However, the survey found that conditions for starting and running a business in poorer countries were consistently more burdensome than in richer countries. The top 5 economies on the ease of doing business were, in order: New Zealand, United States, Singapore, Hong Kong (China), and Australia. Slovakia was the leading reformer, together with Lithuania breaking into the list of the 20 economies with the best business conditions. The major impetus for reform in 2003 was competition in the enlarged European Union. Doing Business in 2004 presented indicators in 5 topics (starting a business, hiring and firing workers, enforcing contracts, getting credit and closing a business), so this report updates these measures. There are two additional sets: registering property and protecting investors. The indicators are used to analyze economic and social outcomes, such as productivity, investment, informality, corruption, unemployment, and poverty, and identify what reforms have worked, where and why.Publication Cross-Border Banking in EMDEs(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-09)Cross-border banking in emerging markets and developing economies has expanded across most World Bank regions and has become large relative to some home and host economies. This paper analyzes recent trends of bank activities of financial groups headquartered in 46 emerging markets and developing economies, as well as the ownership structure of 51 prominent financial groups from emerging markets and developing economies. The data suggest that cross-border groups in most regions have grown in size, geographical reach, range of activities, and group complexity. The increasing relevance and complexity of cross-border banking pose challenges for policy makers in home and host jurisdictions as well as for the groups themselves to maximize the benefits of international financial integration while mitigating the risks. This balance calls for stronger consolidated supervision, more regional coordination and harmonization, and better group-wide corporate governance and controls. However, key challenges include institutional capacity constraints and political factors.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication The Contribution of Education to Economic Growth : A Review of the Evidence, with Special Attention and an Application to Sub-Saharan Africa(Elsevier, 2014-01-31)This paper examines recent studies that estimate the impact of education on economic growth. It explains why cross-country regressions face formidable econometric problems. Recent studies are reviewed: some show strong impacts of education on economic growth; others show little effect. All have multiple estimation problems, which may explain their divergent results. Evidence shows that education quality in Sub-Saharan Africa is much lower than in other developing countries. Estimates from three influential studies are extended; the results suggest that the impact of education on economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is lower than in other countries, likely due to lower school quality.