KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 8): Petronas Gas Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and Sime Darby Bhd are leading examples of Malaysian public-listed companies with high disclosure and transparency levels, according to the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG).

MICG said these findings were based on its evaluation of Malaysia's top 100 public-listed companies by market capitalisation. MICG said it had evaluated the companies based on their anti-corruption practices, organisational transparency, and sustainability.

MICG documented these findings in its report Transparency in Corporate Reporting — Assessing Malaysia's Top 100 Public Listed Companies. MICG launched the report here today.

According to MICG, Malaysian Government-linked companies scored better than multinational companies and family-run entities in the assessment.

MICG president Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff said at the launch ceremony: "Corporate governance standards play a pivotal role in promoting greater trust and accountability in the capital markets."

"These standards raise the expectations of public-listed companies with regard to transparent and comprehensive public reporting," Yusli said.

MICG's report on the big picture, however, showed that Malaysian public-listed companies' disclosure and transparency levels still fell short of expected standards.

The report indicated that the top 100 companies' average score across the three criteria was 4.6 out of 10.