Improving corporate governance standards in the region is essential to improve business performance, said Ahmed Humaid Al-Tayer, chairman of Emirates NBD, at the GCC Board of Directors Institute Workshop which was recently held here. The workshop is a unique initiative which aims at increasing cooperation between board members of the most important companies in the region through continuous networking and exchanging expertise to adopt best global practices in managing companies. The workshop aimed at increasing the understanding and awareness of directors in large GCC corporations of the issues and challenges faced by boards in the region such as director selection, director roles and accountabilities, board structures and delivering on roles of the boards. Al-Tayer said “successful companies around the world have invested in relentless improvement in their governance practices as studies have shown that there is a direct impact on their corporate results. Our region is witnessing unprecedented changes as local and regional companies are becoming more international, our board members have to become more international as well. We are also increasingly competing internationally, therefore, our board members have to understand and appreciate the global competitive dynamics of the industries they are in.” He also shared Emirates NBD's experience in improving the governance of its board members first as individual corporations and recently as a merged business as the group has adopted innovative approaches to face the various challenges that the group faced. He also underscored the importance of going beyond learning global best practices, and beginning to create them as the region has the capabilities and ambitions necessary for that. Al-Tayer further said the “initiative is an ideal platform to further the development of companies through increased cooperation, sharing expertise and networking to improve the standards of companies management in the region." "This institute plays a major role in supporting us as directors to have our collective voices heard by the regulators and leaders of the region so that new legislations and programs adequately address the needs of our companies on the ground,” he added. The workshop was organized by Mc Kenzie and Co in cooperation with Emirates NBD. Emirates NBD has a leading retail banking franchise in the UAE, with over 110 branches and over 440 ATMs. It also has strong Islamic banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management and brokerage operations. The Group has operations in the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Kingdom and Jersey (Channel Islands), and representative offices in India, Iran and Singapore. __
