Capital Concept’s Shareholder-Rights© initiative is dedicated to promoting the adoption of leading international Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles. Supported by robust research, this initiative has demonstrated its capacity to instigate proactive and positive changes within Lebanon’s corporate landscape, encompassing both listed and non-listed companies, family-owned enterprises (FOEs), small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and institutional investors.
Governance and Integrity Rating (GIR)
• Capital Concept’s Governance and Integrity Rating (GIR) on online transparency and disclosure methodology, developed in consultation with institutional investors, evaluates and scores the transparency and disclosure practices of listed companies.
• Capital Concept rated 1,486 companies listed on all 15 MENA exchanges.
• This initiative aimed to provide shareholders with a comprehensive understanding of management decisions, reducing information asymmetry and offering better oversight on investments and risk management mechanisms.
Investor Relations
• The investor relations’ function ensures shareholders’ rights to access information. Shareholders can only take informed decisions when information is available to them in a timely manner and articulated in a transparent and clear way.
• The purpose of this undertaking, was to put at the disposal of capital markets authorities, central banks and corporates, comprehensive research results in a clear and accurate manner that provide an irrefutable truth about the current practices in the Middle East, thus allowing Shareholder-Rights© to make the case for the development of the necessary regulation for the reinforcement of Investor Relations role in listed companies in Lebanon and the Middle East.
Women Representation on Board of Directors
• The Shareholder-Rights© research delves into female board participation rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It focuses on Women Representation on Board of Directors on MENA Exchanges and serves as a reference for organizations like the Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB), advocating for women empowerment.
• Among 1,483 publicly listed companies in 13 MENA countries, the study revealed that 305 did not disclose board composition, leaving 1,178 companies with full disclosures. Although only 17% had female directors, representing 4% of overall board members, the initiative recognized the positive step towards gender equality in Arab markets.
Lecture Series
• Capital Concept organized a Shareholder-Rights Lecture Series on April 25th, 2017 with the patronage of Lebanon’s Capital Market Authority. Mr. Thomas Krantz, a renowned ethics activist and visionary and former Secretary General of the World Federation of Exchanges, was invited as a guest speaker.
• The event was attended by top executives and board members from prominent Lebanese banks, financial institutions, the Central Bank of Lebanon, the Capital Markets Authority, the Banking Control Commission, and journalists.
• During the lecture, Mr. Krantz sounded the alarm on the importance of good governance and the dangers of asymmetry of information and lack of transparency and accountability in the financial market.
