By Robin Chan

CORPORATE Singapore was urged to continue improving investor education and corporate governance by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam last night.

Mr Tharman said at the Securities Investors Association of Singapore (Sias) awards gala dinner: 'It is incumbent on financial institutions and advisers to make the downside risks perfectly plain and clear to the retail investor when selling any investment product.'

He said that companies with robust standards of corporate governance would be better able to keep the loyalty of investors when the flight to safety and quality occurs.

Citing a new Singapore Corporate Governance Index, Mr Tharman said there is a positive correlation between corporate governance and a company's performance.

The index was developed by the Singapore Management University's Centre for Corporate and Investor Responsibility.

The minister was speaking on the night when Sias awarded Great Eastern Life its first most admired financial institution award.

The award was for the company's decision in August to voluntarily pay back its customers $250 million from their investment-linked insurance products that were tied to the ill-fated Lehman Brothers.

'We are recognising the efforts of a financial institution that has gone to great lengths to protect the interest of retail investors by insulating its investors from loss in a selfless act of corporate responsibility,' said Sias president and chief executive David Gerald.

Sias also presented annual awards to recognise companies that excelled in transparency and corporate governance.

SingTel bagged both the overall corporate governance award and board of diversity gong.

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) was one of the 17 recipients of the most transparent company award.

Sias was also celebrating its 10th anniversary, prompting Mr Tharman to praise the almost 70,000-member organisation for being 'the foremost proponent of investors' rights'.

Mr Gerald announced the formation of the Sias Youth Chapter, which will comprise members of the investment clubs of the four universities here. The group will reach out to junior colleges and polytechnics as well.

Sias will also launch its first Financial Literacy Week campaign early next year.

A book published by SPH called Dare to Challenge!, which chronicles shareholder activism in Singapore, was launched last night to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sias.

It was written by former Straits Times journalist Leong Chan Teik.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.