ASX publish board diversity guidelines

Corporations listed on Australia's primary stock exchange will be asked to publish a gender breakdown of their senior executives under new guidelines.

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has published updated corporate governance procedures, which will aim to promote the appointment of women to board-level positions by calling on companies to set targets for diversity.

In addition, the ASX disclosed that it will require board nomination committees to disclose the "skills and diversity criteria" used during executive recruitment campaigns, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Eric Mayne, chief executive of the ASX Corporate Governance Council, which will question organisations that do not comply with the new regulations, suggested that these options could be enforced as rules if companies fail to adhere to them.

He told the newspaper: "If the representation of women on boards and in senior management hasn't improved, the question is what else can or should the government or the ASX do."

Last month, Paul Quinn, head of the law firm Allens Arthur Robinson's corporate department suggested that the Australian companies must be encouraged to recruit candidates from wider demographics.