International principles of corporate governance

How we do it

• 
  Technical assistance advisory programs for modernization of state bank corporate governance, e.g. Algeria, Bangladesh, Peru, Tunisia and Ukraine.
  
• 
  Bank governance reviews in more than 10 countries, e.g. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Economic Community of Central African States, Georgia, Moldova, and Sri Lanka resulting in changes to supervisory approaches and the legal and regulatory framework.
  
• 
  Institution level work including corporate governance diagnostic and action plan for individual state banks, e.g. Colombia.
  
• 
  Development of operational principles, e.g. for assessing and improving the governance of microfinance institutions https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22059
  
• 
  Strengthening the governance of municipal cooperatives, e.g. Peru
  

2. Corporate Governance in Capital Markets
Corporate governance continues to be a key component of capital market development. Good CG reduces emerging market vulnerability to financial crises, reduces transaction costs and cost of capital, and leads to capital market development. Capital markets in turn are a major driver of transparency. In addition to private companies, many SOEs are also listing on the capital markets to access alternative sources of capital and enhance transparency. Good CG also encourages investor confidence and outside investment. As pension funds invest increasingly in equity markets, retirement savings are more secure when invested in well-governed companies. Enhancing the governance and capacity of securities markets and financial sector regulators using a corporate governance lens is becoming an important part of the agenda.
What we do
The Corporate Governance Group has developed different tools to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the corporate governance framework applicable to listed and unlisted companies.
Corporate Governance Advisory Services
The Group provides advisory services to countries wishing to improve corporate governance policies and practices applicable to listed and unlisted companies at different levels:

• 
  Regulatory Level: Developing the corporate governance regulatory environment (e.g. laws, codes, listing rules).
  
• 
  Supervisory level: Building the capacity of selected regulators with tools and training including Central Banks, Capital Market Authorities and state ownership entities.
  
• 
  Market Level: Improving the enabling environment for corporate governance by building the capacity of corporate governance intermediaries, such as Institutes of Directors, consultants and mediators, jointly with IFC.
  

Corporate Governance ROSC
The corporate governance group is the official assessor of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, and conducts corporate governance country assessments under the ROSC initiative. In this context, the World Bank assists its member countries in strengthening their corporate governance frameworks. The goal of the ROSC initiative is strengthen corporate governance policies and practices of listed companies in emerging markets The ROSC assessment:

• 
  Reviews the country’s legal and regulatory framework as well as the practices and compliance of its listed firms; 
  
• 
  Assesses the framework and practices relative to an internationally accepted benchmark as per the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance;
  
• 
  Provides policy recommendations for strengthening corporate governance in terms of board practice, control and audit structures, transparency and disclosure, and protection of shareholder rights — prioritized according to high, medium and lower priority;
  
• 
  Offers a country action plan which sets out key steps, responsibilities, and timelines, and which provides annex model corporate governance policies from other emerging and developing markets