The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched a consultation paper that proposes revisions to the guidelines on corporate governance for designated financial holding companies including reinsurers and captive insurers which are incorporated in Singapore. The guidelines comprise the principles and provision of the Code of Corporate Governance, which apply to all financial institutions within scope, and additional guidelines for locally incorporated financial institutions. The current corporate governance guidelines were last revised in April 2013 and contain the 2012 version of the corporate governance code. In August 2018, the corporate governance code was revised to reinforce board competencies and place greater emphasis on disclosures of the relationship between remuneration and value creation. MAS intends to revise the corporate governance guidelines to incorporate the 2018 version of the corporate governance code. The consultation paper, released on 7 May, explains that for Tier 2 insurers, captive insurers and designated financial holding companies which own Tier 2 insurers, the MAS does not expect full observance of the principles, but any variation should be explained in their annual reports (for listed financial institutions) or company websites (for non-listed financial institutions). All financial Institutions within the scope of the governance guidelines guidelines should also continue to observe or explain variations from the provisions and additional guidelines in their annual reports (for listed financial Institutions) or company websites (for non-listed financial institutions). The consultation closes on 18 June 2021. In February 2020, the Singapore government revealed the Insurance Business Development umbrella scheme and the IBD captive insurance scheme has been extended until 31 December 2025.
