Committees
BASF SE’s Supervisory Board has established a total of four Supervisory Board Committees: the Personnel Committee, the Audit Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Strategy Committee.
Personnel Committee
Members
Prof. Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer* (chair)
Dr. Kurt Bock*
Prof. Dr. Thomas Carell*
Tatjana Diether*
Sinischa Horvat*
Michael Vassiliadis
Duties
- Prepares the appointment of members to the Board of Executive Directors by the Supervisory Board as well as the service contracts to be entered into with members of the Board of Executive Directors
- When making recommendations for appointments to the Board of Executive Directors, considers professional qualifications, international experience and leadership skills as well as long-term succession planning, diversity, and especially the appropriate consideration of women
- Prepares the resolutions made by the Supervisory Board with regard to the system and amount of compensation paid to members of the Board of Executive Directors
Audit Committee
Members
Alessandra Genco* (chair)
Tatjana Diether*
Michael Vassiliadis
Tamara Weinert*
Duties
- Prepares the negotiations and resolutions of the Supervisory Board for the approval of the Financial Statements, the Consolidated Financial Statements and the Management’s Reports, including the Nonfinancial Statements and sustainability reporting and discusses the Quarterly Statements and the Half-Year Financial Report with the Board of Executive Directors prior to their publication
- Deals with monitoring the accounting process, the annual audit, including sustainability reporting and its audit, the appropriateness and effectiveness of the internal control system, the risk management system, the internal auditing system and compliance management system as well as compliance issues
- Is responsible for business relations with the company’s auditor: prepares the Supervisory Board’s proposal to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting regarding the selection of an auditor, monitors the auditor’s independence, defines the focus areas of the audit together with the auditor, discusses the audit risk, audit strategy and audit plan with the auditor, negotiates auditing fees, evaluates the quality of the annual audit, and establishes the conditions for the provision of the auditor’s nonaudit services; the chair of the Audit Committee regularly discusses this with the auditor outside of meetings as well and reports to the Committee on such discussions; the Audit Committee regularly consults with the auditor, even without the Chief Financial Officer or another member of the Board of Executive Directors
- Deals with follow-up assessments of key acquisition and investment projects
- Is responsible for monitoring the internal process of identifying related party transactions and ensuring adherence to statutory approval and disclosure requirements; grants approval of related party transactions
- Is authorized to request any information that it deems necessary from the auditor or from the Board of Executive Directors and has a direct right to information from the heads of the units of the Corporate Center such as Corporate Audit or Corporate Compliance; can also view all of BASF’s business documents and examine these and all other assets belonging to BASF. The Audit Committee can also engage experts such as auditors or lawyers to carry out these inspections
Special expertise in the areas of the annual audit and accounting
The Audit Committee is comprised of two members with special knowledge and experience within the meaning of the German Corporate Governance Code (special expertise) in the areas of accounting and the annual audit. The chair of the Audit Committee, Dame Alison Carnwath DBE, has special expertise in the field of auditing, including sustainability reporting, and accounting expertise due to her studies in economics, her professional activities as an auditor and many years of work on audit committees of publicly listed and nonlisted companies. Alessandra Genco has deep expertise in accounting, including sustainability reporting, due to her studies in economics, her professional experience working for financial institutions and her current role as chief financial officer of a publicly listed international company. Both closely monitor current developments in the sustainability reporting and auditing sector and actively contribute this expertise to the Supervisory Board and Audit Committee.
Nomination Committee
Members
Dr. Kurt Bock* (chair)
Prof. Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer*
Prof. Dr. Thomas Carell*
Liming Chen*
Alessandra Genco*
Tamara Weinert*
Duties
- Identifies suitable individuals for the Supervisory Board based on objectives for the composition decided on by the Supervisory Board
- Prepares the recommendations made by the Supervisory Board for the election of Supervisory Board members representing the shareholders by the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting
Strategy Committee
Members
Dr. Kurt Bock* (chair)
Prof. Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer*
Sinischa Horvat*
Alessandra Genco*
André Matta*
Michael Vassiliadis
Duties
- Handles the further development of the company’s strategy
- Prepares resolutions of the Supervisory Board on the company’s major acquisitions and divestitures
The Supervisory Board has not established a separate Sustainability Committee. The sustainability topic is of such pivotal importance to BASF with its economic success, environment and social-related aspects that the entire Supervisory Board regularly discusses it in detail as a cross-cutting issue. This also applies to the significant issue of reducing CO2 emissions and the targeted conversion of business activities to emission-free energy supply and production processes with a lower emission rate.
* Classified by the Supervisory Board as an “independent” member of the Supervisory Board (see "Corporate Governance & Management" for the criteria used to determine independence)