Singapore companies see 5-year progress in board diversity

The index tracks changes in board composition across 553 companies listed on SGX.

Singapore-listed companies have made notable progress in board diversity over the past five years, according to the newly released 2025 Board Diversity Index (BDI).

The index, developed by WTW, in partnership with the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID) and James Cook University (Singapore Campus) (JCU), tracked changes in board composition across 553 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

The 2025 BDI, based on data as of 30 September 2024, reflected improvements in key areas such as gender, board independence, and industry and domain expertise. The index analysed public disclosures from Large-Cap, Mid-Cap, Small-Cap companies, REITs, Business Trusts, and Catalist-listed firms.

“The nine-year rule seems to have helped improve diversity on Singapore boards, which is heartening to see, but there is still room for improvement particularly for small-cap and Catalist companies,” said Shai Ganu, managing director and global practice leader of Executive Compensation and Board Advisory at WTW.

She noted that cognitive diversity remains crucial to enhancing board decision-making.

The findings also highlighted a growing focus on gender diversity and multidisciplinary expertise.

“The findings of the Board Diversity Index 2025 show both our progress and the challenges that remain,” added Terence Quek, CEO of SID. “They underscore the undeniable value that diversity brings to boardrooms: enhanced decision-making, innovation and resilience in the face of complexity.”

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia