The Application of Corporate Governance Principles in Listed Firms in Damascus Securities Exchange An Analytical Comparative Study between Banking and Insurance Sectors

This study aims at determine the extent to which Syrians listed firms in Damascus Stock Exchange comply with the Principles of Corporate Governance, issued by Syrian Commission on Financial Markets and Securities (2008), Central Bank of Syria, (2009), Syrian Insurance Supervisory Commission (2007), and OECD (2004). To achieve this objective, the researcher conducted a field study on a sample of (20) shareholding companies working in the banking and insurance sectors (about 83% of the Syrians listed firms). A questionnaire containing six questions which cover the six principles of corporate governance was distributed to explore the sample's opinion about how much Syrians shareholding companies comply with those principles. The major findings of this study indicated that there were no significant differences between the level of the banks' commitment to the principles of corporate governance and the level of insurance companies' commitment.