The fund management company Union Investment has confirmed that companies in the DAX and MDax have some catching up to do in terms of good corporate governance.

"Unfortunately, the topics of independence and the accumulation of offices remain perennial issues when it comes to governance deficits," explained Vanda Rothacker, corporate governance specialist at Union Investment, on Thursday. However, social and ecological aspects also played a role in the analysis.

Compared to the last survey, the average score of the DAX companies deteriorated to 2.7 (previous year: 2.2) and in the MDax to 3.3 (3.2). In the leading index, Mercedes and Deutsche Börse were the frontrunners with a score of 2+, while Sartorius and Porsche were at the bottom with a score of 4 and Porsche Automobil Holding with a score of 5+.

In the MDAX small cap index, Thyssenkrupp and Gea led the ranking, while Bechtle, Nemetschek and CTS Eventim did not achieve the minimum 50 points required for sufficient performance. "If you look further down the ranking, things get bleak. Companies still have a lot of homework to do here, especially when it comes to transparency," emphasized Rothacker.

(Report by Anneli Palmen, edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).