According to the last Corporate Transparency Report, developed by the consultancy firm Inteligencia de Negocios (IdN), the University of Development, KPMG and Chile Transparente, Chilean companies are showing a significant improvement regarding their corporate transparency standards.

The report develops a Corporate Transparency Index (ITC), which is based on international recommendations from OECD, UN and EU, and on corporate governments’ fair practices’ codes recommended by guilds, stock exchanges and other institutions.

The companies with the best scores this year are: Bci, Latam Airlines Group, Banco Santander, Masisa and Concha y Toro. In 2015, 43 public limited companies of the General Stock Prices Index of Santiago de Chile (IGPA) reached a level of corporate transparency that can be compared to some of the most prestigious global companies that have operations in the largest stock exchanges of the world. This shows a 26.5% increase when compared to the 2014 report, when 34 companies reached this level.

The improvement is mostly due to the fact that a growing number of companies are developing Sustainability Reports, which provide a great deal of corporate information for stakeholders. According to experts, self-regulation has had a significant influence on this improvement, and that is very positive for the local market.

The best levels of transparency are also a consequence of other factors. To begin with, it is a process that has been internationally encouraged by several institutions: OAS, OECD, EU, CAF and IDB, and was enforced in 2000 with the Global Compact agreement. This pact involves a large number of companies and transnational corporations, as well as medium and small companies from several countries, which have made the commitment to strengthen corporate governance and transparency.

Another important fact is the democratic process that the region is experiencing and the collective demand for more transparency.

Corporate transparency has become a key issue for corporations and it also provides benefits for them. How? By disabling corruption spaces within the organization and strongly implementing ethic codes and core values of the company. In addition, with more information the market can have a better understanding on companies’ values and risks.

That is the case of Bci, the company’s best score in the 2015 transparency ranking. According to this company’s leaders, transparency is one of its core values. And they added that transparency is the basis on which they build trustworthy and long-term relationships with their clients.

Source: Diario Financiero