Disclose directors’ engagements with other firms: BSEC

The boards of directors of listed companies are bound to reveal in reports to shareholders their primary employment and engagements, if any, with other companies, says a Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) notification. 

Any change in directorship also needs to be disclosed so that stock investors can get to know directors better, it said.

The BSEC explained that the notification was issued in the interest of investors and the capital market.

Directors are a company's influencers, so information concerning them is necessary for investors to take decisions. "So we want to make them well known," said a top BSEC official, preferring anonymity.

Now investors will get to know directors perfectly, even if there are any changes, he said.

"Their engagement in other companies is also important in many cases, so we decided to make them well known," he added. The board shall disclose any appointment or reappointment of members.

In the company's official website, it also needs to disclose any change or development in engagement or directorship in other companies in the resumes of directors concerned, it added.

Some directors are engaged in many listed companies but it was not easy for investors to find this out. "So we made it mandatory to make disclosures in the directors' report," said a stock broker.

It is a good decision, he said, adding that information regarding directors was very important and so such disclosures would give new clues for investors to strategise.

Dhaka Stock Exchange has 379 listed companies, which have over 1,800 directors.