ORGANISATIONAL CAPITAL

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

CDL joined the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) and its partners since 2010 to demonstrate our commitment towards excellence in corporate governance. We have further improved our ranking on the Singapore Governance and Transparency Index (SGTI) from 7th position in 2018 to 5^th in 2019. The SGTI assesses companies on their corporate governance disclosure and practices, as well as the timeliness, accessibility and transparency of their financial results announcement. For our full Corporate Governance Report, please refer to CDL Annual Report 2019.

Diversity on the Board

Since 28 August 2015, our Board has supported the Board Diversity Pledge initiated by Singapore Institute of Directors (SID) and SGX-ST. In 2017, the board-level Nominating Committee adopted a formal Board Diversity Policy, which sets out its clear policy and framework for promoting diversity on CDL’s Board.

Demonstrating our Board’s commitment to promote gender diversity, female board representation in 2019 is at 25%¹ , exceeding the Nominating Committee’s target of having a 20% female board representation by 2020, which was recommended by the Council for Board Diversity.

BUSINESS ETHICS AND COMPLIANCE

The Board and Senior Management remain steadfast in conducting business with integrity, consistent with the high standards of business ethics, and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulatory requirements. In 2019, CDL had no incident of non-compliance with socio-economic laws and regulations, including legal requirements of marketing and advertising practices, for which significant fines or non-monetary sanctions were issued to the Company. There was also zero incident of anti-competitive behaviour or monopolistic practices within CDL.

Our business principles and practices regarding matters that may have ethical implications are embedded in an internal code of business and ethical conduct. The CDL Code of Business Conduct and Ethics provides a clear framework for staff to observe CDL’s principles such as honesty, integrity, responsibility and accountability at all levels of the organisation and in the conduct of CDL’s business in its dealings with customers, suppliers and colleagues. It is published on our Intranet and easily accessible by all employees. In 2019, there was no breach against the CDL Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.

The code provides guidance on issues such as:

• Conflicts of interest and the appropriate disclosures to be made.
• CDL’s stance against corruption and bribery.
• Compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including those relating to the protection of the environment and the conservation of energy and natural resources.
• Compliance with CDL’s policies and procedures, including those on internal controls and accounting.
• Protection and use of CDL’s assets, confidential information and intellectual property rights, including the respect of the intellectual property rights of third parties.
• Competition and fair dealing in the conduct of CDL’s business, in our relationships with customers, suppliers, competitors and employees.