On May 31st, “Corporate Governance Asia” magazine announced the winners of the 14th Asian Excellence Award 2024 in a ceremony held in Hong Kong. Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (“Chunghwa” or “the Company”) brought home five awards and was the only awardee among all of Taiwan’s telecom companies. Not only did the Company win “Best Investor Relations” and the “Sustainable Asia Award”, but Chairman Shui-Yi Kuo also received “Asia’s Best CEO” award. Additionally, Chief Financial Officer Vincent Chen received “Asia’s Best CFO” award, and Assistant Vice President of Financial Department Cho-Fen (Angela) Tsai was bestowed the “Best Investor Relations Officer” award. These accolades demonstrate that the Company's exceptional top-down performance in sustainable governance, coupled with outstanding investor relations, have earned international acclaim.
Since 2011, Corporate Governance Asia has independently assessed publicly disclosed information annually to select prominent Asian companies and recognize those with exemplary performance based on corporate governance, investor relations, corporate social responsibility, environmental responsibility, and financial performance.
Chunghwa Telecom stands out in the multinational cross-industry corporate governance assessment in Asia as the sole Taiwanese telecom company to receive recognition for investor relations and sustainability. Chunghwa stated that the Company is dual-listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the U.S. New York Stock Exchange, attracting investors globally, and in pursuit of excellence in corporate governance and sustainability, the Company benchmarks its investor communications against the highest global standards. In recent years, the IR team has been strived for timely and equitable information disclosure to satisfy investors' needs while also emphasizing ESG reporting during the quarterly earnings calls. These efforts have effectively aid investors in thoroughly understanding the company's strategies and developments across sustainability, financial and business dimensions.
Chairman Shui-Yi Kuo said, “In 2023, our revenue and profit measures not only beat the high end of the financial forecasts but also set a six-year high, demonstrating a steady growth across the three major business groups, innovating and creating value for customers.” Last year, Chunghwa Telecom celebrated the 20th anniversary of its listing of American Depositary Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange and was invited to ring the NYSE Closing Bell, showing its commitment to international markets and years of globalization efforts. Chairman Kuo indicated, “We were deeply honored by this international recognition. Due to the annual shareholders' meeting, I was not able to attend the award-giving ceremony in person and designated Chief Financial Officer Vincent Chen to receive the award for me. I would like to attribute the achievement to the collective efforts of the Chunghwa Telecom Board of Directors and all our employees. Looking forward, the Company will leverage our four abundant assets: ‘customers and partners, technology platforms, infrastructure, and talent’ to empower our customers, foster innovation continuously, and fulfill our mission of creating value for clients, strategic partners, employees, and shareholders.”
Furthermore, Chairman Kuo underlined Chunghwa’s emphasis on sustainable development and the determination of putting it into action. The Company has not only promoted the Sustainability and Strategy Committee to become one of the functional committees at the Board level in 2023 to expand the participation of its Board members in important ESG issues, but also implemented sustainable practice from the top-level by linking executive compensation to ESG performance. Meanwhile, Chunghwa was the only telecom operator in Taiwan to follow the international best practice of implementing the Incentive Compensation Clawback Policy to enhance interest alignment between the top management team and shareholders, becoming an international benchmark enterprise built upon sustainable development.
Chief Financial Officer Vincent Chen expressed his gratitude to the international media and investors for their recognition. He said, “Corporate governance is the cornerstone of sustainable development, with transparent information disclosure being a crucial aspect. The Company will continue to uphold its consistent disclosure policy, ensuring transparency, timeliness, and fairness, while proactively addressing investors' information disclosure demands. Additionally, Chunghwa Telecom is dedicated to net-zero transformation, convinced that business growth and sustainability can go hand in hand.” Chief Financial Officer Chen further addressed, “The best evidence is that the Chunghwa’s revenue of the parent company increased by around 5.7% while the carbon emissions experienced a downward trend, decreasing 14% in 2023 compared to 2020. Chunghwa’s business is connected with hundreds of industries and will continue to work together with stakeholders to promote the implementation of net-zero transformation with the spirit of common good.”
Chunghwa Telecom’s initiatives in sustainable development have consistently garnered accolades from prestigious international rating agencies; it was recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index as No. 1 among world-class telecommunication sustainability leaders and received MSCI ESG "AA" rating. Chunghwa Telecom highlighted that the Company will continue to hold itself to the highest standards, constantly enhancing the corporate governance to create value for investors.
