Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh (ICSB) has organized a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme titled “Bangladesh Secretarial Standards (BSS): Essential Tools for Strengthening Corporate Governance” on Wednesday, 27 December 2023 at 6.00 PM at the Samson H. Chowdhury Centre, Dhaka Club Limited, Ramna, Dhaka.
Prof. Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, Chairman (Senior Secretary), Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.
Dr. Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed and Dr. Mizanur Rahman, Commissioners, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) also graced the occasion as Special Guests. Mr. Mohammad Asad Ullah FCS, President of ICSB and Chairman of the Professional Development Committee chaired the session and delivered the welcome speech and moderated the session.
Learned Fellow Members of ICSB presented the keynote papers in the CPD. Mr. M Nurul Alam FCS presented BSS-1: Meetings of the Board of Directors, Mr. Mohammad Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan FCS presented BSS-2: General Meetings and BSS-6: Resolution by Circulations respectively, Prof. Dr. Feroz Iqbal Faruque FCS presented BSS-3: Minutes, Mr. Muhammad Aminur Rahman FCS presented BSS-4: Dividends and Mr. Md. Nazrul Islam Chowdhury FCS presented BSS-5: Meeting through Electronic Modes (Virtual or Hybrid Meetings).
Mr. Mohammad Asad Ullah FCS, President of the Institute, delivered a welcome speech and thanked everyone for joining the ICSB’s flagship learning programme ¬- CPD. He said that through this kind of CPD program, members of the Institute have been enormously benefited with the updated knowledge. He mentioned that the Council of ICSB as per provisions of section 12(1) of the Chartered Secretaries Act, 2010 and sub-section (1) (cha) of Regulation 43 of Chartered Secretaries Regulations, 2011 formed a Secretarial Standard Board (SSB) in 2011 to formulate such Standards, taking into consideration of the applicable laws, business environment and best secretarial practices in Bangladesh and comparable countries. BSEC has enforced 1 to 4 BSSs vide their Corporate Governance Code, 2018. There have been lots of developments in the listed companies for strengthening corporate governance.
The President of ICSB requested the Chief Guest and Special Guests to take necessary steps to include BSS-5&6 in the Corporate Governance Code of BSEC. He also underscored for including ICSB nominated representative as the member of BSEC Advisory Committee, Council of FRC, Board of Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges, Board of Governors of Capital Market Stabilization Fund. He also mentioned to create a panel/pool of professionals including ICSB Members for appointment of Independent Directors in the Listed Companies of Bangladesh.
Special Guest Dr. Mizanur Rahman, Commissioner, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) thanked ICSB for arranging such an important CPD Seminar. While discussing he mentioned that not only regulatory bodies but organizations like ICSB can promote the corporate governance in Bangladesh by maintaining the secretarial standards in practice. He said that there are lot of opportunities where BSEC and ICSB can achieve together.
Special Guest Dr. Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed, Commissioner, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) thanked the Institute for organizing the event. He mentioned that ICSB was established through enactment of the Chartered Secretaries Act, 2010 by the parliament but progress of ICBS within 13 years in really impressive. He also asked all to take the opportunity of digitization in different process of Secretarial Practices through Regulatory Information System (RIS) which is coming very soon.
The Chief Guest Prof. Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, Chairman of BSEC thanked the Institute for organizing such a time worthy CPD Seminar fairly aligned with the present demand for better corporate governance. While delivering his speech, he mentioned that Bangladesh Secretarial Standards (BSS) mainly aims to enhance the professionalism and efficiency of secretarial professionals in our country. BSS sets a unified code of secretarial practices and ethics to be followed by corporate houses, it also facilitates dispute resolution between various stakeholders, provides clarity where the relevant law is ambiguous. BSS also sets higher benchmarks of ethics and corporate governance.
He positively accepted the request for enforcement of the rest two Standards (5&6) in the Corporate Governance Code of BSEC and will try to look into other 5 issues too.
The programme was attended by a large number of members of ICSB, government officials and professionals of different fields. The discussion session was followed by an interactive session, where the Chief Guest and Session Chairman answered various questions of the participants.
At the end Mr. Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun FCS, Treasurer of ICSB concluded the session with a vote of thanks to the Chief Guest, Special Guests, Keynote speaker, discussants, President and members of ICSB, and all participants.
