Australia: board composition and NED pay in the S&P/ASX 100

The Australian Council of Super Investors has published research on the composition of S&P/ASX 100 listed company boards and the pay of non-executive directors in respect of financial years ending in 2009: see here (pdf). Amongst the findings were the following (to quote directly from the report):

• Independent directors held 69% of all board seats. This is the highest level recorded in the history of ACSI's longitudinal studies of Top 100 boards over the past eight years and is an increase from the level of approximately 65% for the past four years.
• The number of Top 100 directors holding no other ASX listed board seats increased compared to 2008, with 55% of all individuals holding office as a director of an S&P/ASX 100 entity holding no other ASX listed board seats, up from 31.4% in 2008.
• Female representation on boards remained stagnant in 2009 as it has since 2006. Women accounted for 11.1% of all individuals holding S&P/ASX 100 board seats and 12.1% of all board seats (in 2008 women accounted for 10.1 percent of all S&P/ASX 100 directors and 11.1% of all board seats).