Lee Yeon-woo is a financial journalist at The Korea Times. Her wide range of reporting includes policies, macroeconomics, stock market, companies and even crypto. She is passionate about connecting the dots in Korean finance and making it easier for foreign nationals to understand. Based on her previous experience as a national reporter, she also has a keen interest in social issues within the sector, including gender equality and ESG. Your tips and insights are always appreciated. You can send them to yanu@koreatimes.co.kr.
Clustering of shareholders' meetings persists despite gov't reform efforts
Shareholders attend the annual general meeting of Korea Zinc at a hotel in Seoul, March 28. Yonhap
By Lee Yeon-woo
Calls grow for stronger incentives
Despite government efforts to enhance shareholder value, the concentration of annual general meeting dates remains high, prompting calls for stronger incentives to address the issue, according to industry officials Monday.
Spreading out annual general meetings allows more shareholders to attend and exercise their voting rights, thereby enhancing shareholder protection and contributing to greater corporate transparency.
However, recent data shows that two-thirds of listed companies held their annual general meetings within a concentrated three-day period — even after the government introduced the Corporate Value-up initiative.
According to the Korea Listed Companies Association and Kosdaq Listed Companies Association, 1,627 companies — or 66.7 percent — of the 2,440 listed companies with December fiscal year-ends held their annual general meetings on the three most common dates. These dates were March 26 (544 companies), March 28 (571 companies) and March 31 (512 companies).
Although this marks a slight decrease from last year’s concentration level of 70.8 percent, it remains significantly high compared to other major economies.
Industry officials attribute the late-March clustering to regulatory requirements: companies must include both their business reports and audit reports when issuing notices for meetings. Under Korean law, companies must hold their meetings within three months of the fiscal year-end.
To encourage companies' participation, the Financial Services Commission has operated a voluntary compliance program since 2018 to spread out their meeting schedules.
Firms that avoid peak dates may receive benefits such as a reduction in penalty points if later designated as unfaithful disclosure entities. They may also earn additional points when being evaluated for exemplary disclosure status.
However, companies face no penalties for holding meetings on peak dates as long as they submit the required disclosures. Many firms have justified their timing by citing "unavoidable internal settlement schedules and delays in receiving audit reports."
Critics argue the program lacks real impact, as the incentives have failed to bring about meaningful behavioral change among companies.
"Without mandatory measures, it will be difficult to disperse annual general meeting dates unless strong, groundbreaking incentives are introduced," an industry official said.