Towards a Brave New World of Corporate Governance Practices in Emerging Markets: The Case of Listed Banks in Romania

Abstract

Financial crises, in general, are putting a greater emphasis on the best practices regarding corporate governance in emerging economies. Boards of Directors are under great pressure to be transparent and accountable. In the same background, given the current socioeconomic context, due to the crisis generated by the new Coronavirus (CoVid-19) pandemic, the banking sector is under analogous levels of scrutiny, subject to a similar regulatory backlash. In this context, banks must not fail to fulfil the expectations of policy makers in particular, and society in general. The Code of Corporate Governance (CCG) issued by the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) aims at creating an internationally attractive capital market in Romania, based on best practices, transparency and trust – pillars that encourage companies to build a strong relationship with their shareholders and other stakeholders, by an effective and transparent communication, as well as openness towards all potential investors. This paper aims to highpoint the degree of compliance of the banks listed on the BSE with the principles and provisions stipulated by the CCG in force. As such, the assessment consisted in measuring the corporate governance quality and effectiveness in the main Romanian banks: Banca Transilvania, BRD, Erste Group and Patria Bank. Evaluating corporate governance eminence is constructed by using the score function method in regards to disclosure and transparency practices, as proposed by BSE. In this respect, an investigation was performed, focusing on the mode in which the principles enforced by the BSE are respected. This goal is important due to the current sensitive socioeconomic environment, which, undoubtedly, makes the corporate governance in the banking sector a controversial subject. In this framework, valuable conclusions were reached, regarding a satisfactory compliance level with the CCG issued by BSE. The research emphasized a high level of adoption of the best practice doctrines. Copyright © 2020. Delia DELIU. Distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International CC-BY 4.0