The most administratively open board market in Asia for a foreign director — and the one where a single resident-director requirement is routinely mistaken for a bar on foreign appointments.

~610

Companies listed on SGX (Mainboard and Catalist)

1/3

Minimum independent directors, SGX Listing Rule 210(5)(c)

9 years

Hard tenure cap on independence, in force since 1 Jan 2022

A nine-year cap on independent non-executive tenure is being phased in to 2028, and every long-tenured INED seat on the exchange now has a date on it.

~2,600

Companies listed on HKEX Main Board and GEM

1/3

Minimum INEDs on the board, Listing Rule 3.10A

9 years

Tenure cap on INED independence, phased to 2028

The largest structural demand for outside directors in Asia — created by a listing-segment reform and a governance code that asks Prime Market boards for a third, and increasingly a majority, of independent directors.

~3,900

Companies listed on TSE across Prime, Standard and Growth

1/3

Independent directors expected of Prime Market boards, CG Code Principle 4.8

2021

Outside directors became mandatory for listed companies

A twelve-year hard cap on independent-director tenure has been forcing the largest scheduled board turnover in Southeast Asia — and the replacement bench is thinner than the demand.

~980

Companies listed on Bursa Malaysia

12 years

Hard cap on independent-director tenure, Bursa Listing Requirements

30%

Women directors expected of listed boards, MCCG 2021

A market that expects a majority-independent board and an independent chair as standard — and one of the few where a residency requirement genuinely binds a foreign appointee's plans.

~2,000

Entities listed on ASX

2 of 3

Public-company directors who must ordinarily reside in Australia

Majority

Independent directors recommended, ASX Principle 2.4

The most codified independent-director regime in the world — a statutory databank, a proficiency test, a five-year term and a two-term cap — and the one market on this exchange where we read the filings ourselves.

5,000+

Companies read nightly by India ID Exchange

5 years

Independent-director term, Companies Act s.149(10)

2 terms

Statutory cap on consecutive terms, s.149(11)

Statute, not code. Large listed boards must be majority outside-director, may not be single-gender, and cap an outside director at six years — and the Value-up Programme has put capital efficiency on every agenda.

~2,600

Companies listed on KOSPI and KOSDAQ

Majority

Outside directors required at large listed companies

6 years

Maximum outside-director tenure at one company

Independent directors and a fully independent audit committee are now mandatory for every listed company, with a nine-year cap — on the board population that governs the world's semiconductor supply chain.

~1,800

Companies listed on TWSE and TPEx

2 or 1/5

Independent directors required, whichever is greater

9 years

Three consecutive three-year terms, then the seat must change hands

At least three independent directors and one third of the board, an all-independent audit committee, and a nine-year tenure expectation — on the second-largest listed market in ASEAN.

~800

Companies listed on SET and mai

3 or 1/3

Independent directors required, whichever is greater

9 years

Cumulative service at which the CG Code asks boards to reconsider independence

A two-tier board in the middle of Southeast Asia — and the market where the word 'director' means the opposite of what a foreign candidate assumes it means.

~900

Companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange

30%

Minimum independent commissioners on the Board of Commissioners

2

Minimum members of each of the two boards

The Revised Corporation Code removed the majority-resident requirement for directors in 2019, and a nine-year cap on independent directors means the seats turn over on a schedule the SEC enforces.

~280

Companies listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange

3 or 1/3

Independent directors asked for by the SEC governance code, whichever is higher

9 years

Cap on consecutive service as an independent director

A governance regime being built in real time around a fast-growing listed market, with independent-member requirements that differ depending on which board model a company has adopted.

~700

Companies listed on HOSE and HNX

1/3

Non-executive board members required of a listed company

2 models

Governance structures a public company may choose between

A residency rule that a resident Australian director can satisfy — the only market on this Exchange where another country's residence counts — on a small, high-governance board population.

~130

Companies listed on the NZX Main Board

2 of 3

Directors who must be ordinarily resident in New Zealand, NZX Listing Rules

1/3

Independent directors required where the board has eight or more members

The most open major board market in the world on paper — no residency test, no nationality test — and the most demanding in practice, because the Code asks half the board to be independent and the market reads every departure.

~1,600

Companies on the Main Market and AIM

50%

Board excluding chair that should be independent NEDs, Provision 11

9 years

Tenure beyond which independence is questioned, Provision 10

A two-tier board with a supervisory board that hires and fires the management board — a genuinely different governance instrument, and the one most often misunderstood by directors trained in a unitary system.

~430

Companies in the German regulated market (Prime and General Standard)

30%

Women required on supervisory boards of listed, co-determined companies

2

Named expertises required on a PIE audit committee — accounting and auditing

A binding one-third gender quota on supervisory boards, a twelve-year tenure ceiling and a governance code that all but requires an independent supervisory board — combined with the highest concentration of English-language board process in continental Europe.

~130

Companies listed on Euronext Amsterdam

1/3

Binding minimum of each gender on listed supervisory boards

12 years

Maximum supervisory-board tenure under the Code (4+4+4)

The EU's regulated-entity hub. Thousands of funds, insurers and payment firms domiciled here need independent non-executive directors with regulator-facing experience — and the Central Bank has been explicit that it expects real ones.

~8,500

Regulated funds and sub-funds domiciled in Ireland

€25,000

Section 137 bond where no EEA-resident director is appointed

9 years

INED tenure guidance for credit institutions and insurers

Annual individual election of every board member and a binding shareholder vote on pay — the most shareholder-accountable board seat in Europe, on some of the highest fees anywhere.

~230

Companies listed on SIX Swiss Exchange

1 year

Term of every board member — individual annual election

30%

Gender guideline for the board of directors, CO Art. 734f

A 40% board gender quota that voids a non-compliant appointment, a twelve-year independence limit, and employee directors on every large board — the most structurally constrained composition arithmetic in Europe, and therefore the most predictable.

~450

Companies listed on Euronext Paris

40%

Minimum of each gender on the board, Loi Copé-Zimmermann

12 years

Service beyond which independence is lost, AFEP-MEDEF Code

The only major market where minority shareholders elect their own directors by operation of law — the voto di lista puts a board seat within reach of an outside candidate without the controlling family's blessing.

~220

Companies listed on Euronext Milan

2/5

Minimum of the less-represented gender, Law 160/2019

1

Directors that must be drawn from a minority slate, Art. 147-ter TUF

A statutory twelve-year independence limit, a four-way classification of every director on the register, and a 2024 parity law that put a 40% board requirement into Spanish statute ahead of the EU deadline.

~120

Companies on the Spanish continuous market

12 years

Statutory limit on independent-director tenure, LSC art. 529 duodecies

40%

Board requirement for the less-represented sex, Organic Law 2/2024

A one-third board gender requirement enforced by voiding appointments and suspending benefits, a twelve-year independence criterion in statute, and the highest concentration of international institutions in Europe.

~120

Companies listed on Euronext Brussels

1/3

Minimum of the other gender on a listed board, Law of 28 July 2011

12 years

Service beyond which the statutory independence criterion fails

A German-style two-tier supervisory board with one-third employee delegation and a 30% gender rule enforced by the empty-chair sanction — the same architecture as Germany at a scale where a first supervisory seat is genuinely reachable.

~60

Companies in the Vienna prime market

30%

Minimum of each gender on qualifying supervisory boards

1/3

Supervisory seats delegated by the works council

A two-tier supervisory board whose powers were materially strengthened in 2022 — including the right to appoint its own adviser at the company's expense — on the largest listed market in Central Europe.

~400

Companies on the GPW main market

2

Independent supervisory board members required by Best Practice

12 years

Service beyond which independence is lost

The nomination committee is appointed by the largest shareholders and sits outside the board — so the route to a Swedish board seat runs through the owners, not through the chair.

~400

Companies on Nasdaq Stockholm main market

1 year

Board term — directors are elected annually

25

Employees above which employee directors join the board by statute

The market that proved board quotas work — 40% since 2008 — and is now extending gender-balance requirements to large private companies, outside the EU directive and on its own timetable.

~350

Companies listed on Euronext Oslo

40%

Board gender requirement for public limited companies since 2008

200

Employees above which a corporate assembly may be required

No residency requirement at all, board process in English at most large caps, and a twelve-year independence limit — the most administratively frictionless Nordic market for a foreign director.

~130

Companies listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen

12 years

Service beyond which independence is lost under the Recommendations

None

Residency requirement for directors

A shareholders' nomination board like Sweden's, board process in English at most large caps, and an EEA-resident requirement that binds one director rather than half the board.

~135

Companies listed on Nasdaq Helsinki

1

EEA-resident board members required, subject to exemption

150

Employees above which personnel representation may be agreed

Europe's largest fund domicile. Thousands of management companies, funds and holding vehicles each need a board the CSSF will approve — on a population of seats that has nothing to do with the size of the country.

Largest

Investment fund domicile in Europe by assets under management

CSSF

Approves directors of regulated entities individually

No

Residency requirement for a director in company law

Acting as a director by way of business is a regulated activity here — so a professional director must be licensed or work for a licensed provider, which is the opposite of how most markets treat the role.

Trust company business

The regulatory class that covers acting as a director by way of business

No

Residency or nationality requirement in company law

JFSC

Approves principal and key persons of regulated businesses

The one jurisdiction that licenses an individual to be a professional director in their own name — a personal fiduciary licence, rather than employment by a firm.

Personal

Fiduciary licence available to an individual in their own name

TISE

The International Stock Exchange is headquartered here

No

Residency or nationality requirement in company law

No federal board-composition code, no residency test, no nationality test — and the highest board compensation in the world. What gates a US seat is not law, it is legibility to a nominating committee.

~5,600

Companies listed on NYSE and Nasdaq

Majority

Independent directors required, NYSE 303A.01 / Nasdaq 5605(b)

3 committees

Audit, compensation and nominating — all fully independent

A federal 25% Canadian-residency rule on the board that several provinces have now abolished — so the jurisdiction a company is incorporated in decides whether a foreign appointment is straightforward or structural.

~3,300

Issuers listed on TSX and TSX Venture Exchange

25%

Resident Canadian directors required of a CBCA corporation

100%

Audit committee independence required, NI 52-110

Three governance regimes in one country — onshore SCA, DIFC and ADGM — and a listing programme that has been assembling new independent boards faster than the market can supply them.

~180

Companies listed on DFM, ADX and Nasdaq Dubai

1/3

Independent directors required on a PJSC board, SCA governance guide

3

Separate regimes — onshore SCA, DIFC and ADGM

The fastest-growing listed market in the region, with a codified independence requirement, a four-year board cycle and a Vision 2030 programme that has put governance capability in genuine short supply.

~350

Companies listed on Tadawul main market and Nomu

2 or 1/3

Independent directors required, whichever is greater — CMA CGR Art. 16

4 years

Maximum board term before re-election

The only market on this Exchange with a statutory category of independent director — the external director — carrying a mandatory qualification, a fixed renewable term, election by the minority, and fees fixed by regulation rather than negotiation.

~500

Companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

2

External directors every public company must appoint

3 years

External director term, renewable in defined further terms

Two regimes in one country — onshore QFMA and the common-law Qatar Financial Centre — on a listed market being deliberately widened to attract foreign capital.

~50

Companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange

1/3

Minimum independent directors on a listed company board

3 years

Board term before re-election

A codified governance module under the Capital Markets Authority on a market recently promoted to emerging-market status, with independence requirements that arrived faster than the domestic director bench.

~150

Companies listed on Boursa Kuwait

3 years

Board term before re-election

1

Minimum independent board members required by the CMA governance module

The Gulf's oldest financial centre, with a Central Bank rulebook that governs both listed-company and licensee board composition — and one of the region's most established populations of professional directors.

~40

Companies listed on Bahrain Bourse

1/3

Independent directors expected on a listed board

3 years

Board term before re-election

The only market on this Exchange where every director of a listed company must be non-executive — the chief executive does not sit on the board at all.

~110

Companies listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange

100%

Board members who must be non-executive

3 years

Board term before re-election

Brazil removed its residency requirement for board directors in 2021. The market is now open to non-resident directors as a matter of law, and most of the world has not noticed.

~370

Companies listed on B3

2 or 20%

Independent directors required on Novo Mercado, whichever is greater

2021

Year the residency requirement for board directors was removed

The only jurisdiction on this Exchange where being a professional director is a licensed occupation — CIMA registers and licenses the people, not just the funds.

Dominant

Domicile for hedge funds and a major one for private funds

20

Covered-entity directorships above which a Professional Director Licence is required

No

Residency or nationality requirement for a director

King IV is the most demanding governance code in the world on the question of outcomes rather than boxes — and the JSE requires a board policy on race and gender diversity, not merely a statement about it.

~280

Companies listed on the JSE

17

King IV principles, applied and explained rather than complied with

3

Minimum independent non-executive directors on a JSE audit committee

Independent directors are a statutory requirement here, not a code recommendation — every public company must have at least three under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020.

~150

Companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX)

3

Independent directors required of every public company, CAMA 2020 s.275

28

Principles in the Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance, applied and explained

The governance gateway to East Africa — a Capital Markets Authority code with a defined independence threshold, on the exchange most regional groups list on.

~60

Companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange

1/3

Independent directors expected on an issuer's board

7–11

Board size range the CMA code works to

Morocco legislated both independent directors and a phased board gender requirement into company law in the same reform — one of the few African markets to put either into statute rather than a code.

~75

Companies listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange

30% → 40%

Phased female board representation required of listed companies

6 years

Maximum term of a director of a société anonyme

The Financial Regulatory Authority made female board representation a binding listing condition rather than a target — one of the earliest markets outside Europe to do so.

~220

Companies listed on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX)

25%

Board seats the FRA has moved listed companies towards for female representation

2

Minimum independent members expected on a listed board

The domicile for Africa- and India-facing investment structures, where substance rules require resident directors by law — creating a professional-director market on an island of 1.3 million people.

2

Resident directors a Global Business Company must have under FSC substance rules

8

Principles in the National Code of Corporate Governance, applied and explained

~90

Companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius