BMW 2015 Annual Report Download - page 9

9 REPORT OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD
Further information on the compensation of Board of Management members is provided in the Compen-
sation Report (see section “Statement on Corporate Governance”).
In 2015, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board again conducted an in-depth review of the
corporate governance standards currently in place in the BMW Group as well as the rules set out in the German
Corporate Governance Code. In the most recent Declaration of Compliance issued in December 2015, both
boards decided that the BMW Group should comply with all of the recommendations issued by the German
Government Corporate Governance Code Commission on 12 June 2015, except for the disclosure of Board of
Management members’ compensation in prescribed model tables, as the Supervisory Board is of the opinion
that these tables do not improve the clarity and comprehensibility of the Compensation Report. The wording
of the Declaration of Compliance is contained in the Corporate Governance Report.
Both the Personnel Committee and the Supervisory Board again asked the Board of Management to
describe the state of progress in implementing the BMW Group’s diversity concept. This programme not only
relates to gender diversity, it also promotes both cultural diversity and a balanced mixture of age groups
among staff. The Board of Management also reported on the percentage of and development of female execu-
tives at various management levels within the Group and the targets determined by the Board of Management
for the two executive levels immediately below it. In addition, the Board of Management reported to the
Supervisory
Board on measures to develop young talent for future strategic fields of expertise.
The Supervisory Board also consulted on the consequences of legislation relating to the equal participation
of women and men in management positions in Germany for the BMW Group’s two boards. As its target for
the proportion of women on the Board of Management by 31 December 2016, the Supervisory Board
has stipulated that the Board of Management should continue to have at least one female member. Assuming
the Board of Management continues to comprise eight members, this would correspond to a ratio of at least
12.5 %. The fact that the Supervisory Board considers it desirable to increase the proportion of women on the
board further supports the Board of Management’s current raft of measures, which is also aimed at increasing
the proportion of women at the highest executive management levels of the BMW Group.
The legal minimum of 30 per cent of female and male members in the Supervisory Board that came into
force on 1 January 2016 is already being complied with, both in terms of the Supervisory Board in its entirety
and also for both shareholder and employee representatives.
The Supervisory Board decided upon specific appointment objectives for its own composition based on
a detailed composition profile, a description of which is provided in the Corporate Governance Report. In
line with a new recommendation contained in the German Corporate Governance Code, the appointment
objectives have been supplemented to include a maximum length of office on the Supervisory Board. Based
on a self-assessment, the Supervisory Board determined that its composition at 31 December 2015 complied
with its appointment objectives.
In the financial year 2015, the Personnel Committee took the decision to disburse any costs to current and
former members of the Board of Management that could arise in connection with a civil action brought by a
former supplier in the USA. As a former member of the Board of Management, I did not personally vote on
this resolution, which was taken as a precautionary measure.
Apart from this matter, there were no indications of possible conflicts of interest on the part of Supervisory
Board members in the financial year 2015. Significant transactions with Supervisory Board members and
other related parties as defined by IAS 24, including close relatives and intermediate entities, are monitored
in the form of quarterly requests for relevant information.
The Supervisory Board endeavours to assess and continuously improve the efficiency of its work, including
that of its committees. Once a year, the efficiency examination is dealt with as a separate agenda point, at