Vietnam falls flat on governance

Poor corporate governance in Vietnam is undercutting the ability of listed companies to gain investor confidence, according to a ranking of 100 firms made by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), reports Vietnam News.

In an IFC survey, the role of stakeholders in corporate governance achieved a low score of only 29.2%, listed firms also performed poorly on the quality of the board (35.3%) and of disclosure and transparency (39.4%).

IFC consultant Anne Molyneux says the corporate governance in Vietnam was driven more by compliance with regulatory requirements than commitment to higher practices of sound governance.

Finance experts say Nigerian banks should get their risk management right in order to avoid a repeat of the crisis that engulfed the industry last year, states Next.

Chukwuka Monye, managing partner of Ciuci Consulting, a management consulting firm, says technology, corporate governance, human capital and regulation, is key to improve and manage risk management.

Last year, Central Bank governor, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, revealed that Nigerian banks had suffered from non-performing loans due to poor governance practices.

An insurer called New York Life has begun a social media networking initiative to allow financial representatives to connect with customers through social media while meeting regulatory compliance and governance concerns, says Insurance and Technology.

The company has rolled out a pilot project involving 750 agents using Socialware's Compass solution.

The Socialware platform allows social data to be filtered, tagged, integrated, archived and aggregated in adherence to New York Life's social media policy, allowing for compliance with applicable laws and regulations.