Chartered secretaries call for wider adoption of corporate governance

Chartered secretaries who ensure corporate governance in companies have called for taking the idea and practices of corporate governance beyond the purview of publicly listed companies.

They spoke in a webinar organised by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh (ICSB) on Saturday.

They said only in Bangladesh, the capital market regulator enforces corporate governance for listed firms while the banking and insurance regulators have their own set of rules for entities run under their supervision.

Thus, corporate governance is virtually limited in the purview of listed companies, while the economy here is brutally dominated by non-listed firms.

ICSB's former president Mohammad Sanaulla urged the government to upgrade the country's companies act in line with the global best corporate governance practices so that all the registered firms in the economy are compelled to adopt corporate governance.

The programme titled "Corporate Governance Practice in Bangladesh" was chaired by the institute President Muzaffar Ahmed.

He said a lack of corporate governance is the main reason behind some banks' sorry state in Bangladesh.

Professor Dr Md Mizanur Rahman, commissioner at the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), spoke as the chief guest and urged the chartered secretaries to recommend to the regulator what it needs to change to make the corporate governance code more effective.

M Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar, chief operating officer of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, Hossain Sadat FCS, acting chief corporate affairs officer at Grameenphone, were the official discussants at the programme.