SGX’s nine-year cap came into effect for listcos at their annual general meeting for their financial year ending on or after Dec 31, 2023. Directors who had served more than nine years on the same board were no longer considered independent, with no exceptions or shareholder overrides permitted.
About a fifth (22.8%) of directors in Singapore Exchange-listed companies (SGX listcos) have served on their boards for more than nine years as at Dec 31, 2024, down from 31.8% two years prior, following revised SGX Listing Rules that placed a nine-year cap on the tenure of independent directors (IDs).
Of 2,070 IDs as at end-2022, 67 had a tenure of more than nine years, earning themselves the label of “long-serving ID”. The percentage of long-serving IDs is 3.2% as at end-2024, “a big decline” from 20.9% at end-2022, according to the latest edition of the Singapore Directorship Report, a biennial analysis by the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID) and academics.
