OECD Corporate Governance Factbook 2025, The board of directors (chapter)

Released 6 October 2025 covering 52 jurisdictions comprising all OECD, G20 and Financial Stability Board members, with information as of 31 December 2024 unless otherwise specified. Sixty-three per cent of jurisdictions now set a maximum tenure for independent directors, up from 51 per cent in 2014, with the range running from 3 to 12 years and 12 years the most common length followed by 9. Eighty-nine per cent have requirements defining director independence in relation to substantial shareholders, up from 64 per cent in 2014 on a base of 41 jurisdictions in 2014 and 52 in 2024, and the chapter states plainly that the role of independent directors in controlled companies differs because the horizontal agency problem between controlling and minority shareholders replaces the vertical one.