Newton Legal discusses new Corporate Governance Code

Newton Legal Group, head of the legal special interest group of the Bahrain British Business Forum, presented at the Capital Club the recent changes to the Corporate Governance Code (Code) which came into effect in October 2018 and which all Bahrain shareholding companies have to comply with.

Nicholas Williams, Partner at Newton Legal Group, gave an introductory statement on the Code and was followed by Ali Al Alawi (Head of Corporate Governance at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism(MOICT)) who outlined the steps taken by the MOICT to prepare the Code and explained what is new in the Code.

Newton Legal Group’s Aamal Al Abbasi and Sumana Abdulkarim then focussed on the practical steps to be taken by companies caught by the Code to ensure compliance, such as the appointment of a Corporate Governance Officer and submission of the Annual Governance Report.

Senior representatives from Bahrain closed or public shareholding companies attended the event.

Newton Legal Group has been advising clients who never applied the Code on how to implement it and those clients who have been applying the 2011 version of the code on the changes that need to be made.