The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) on Wednesday asked listed companies to hold their annual general meetings (AGMs) and extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) by asking a portion of the shareholders to attend in person and the other half to join in virtually.
The companies must notify their shareholders about the address of the meeting venue as well as the online meeting link for joining the meeting, with notification to the commission and bourses, as per the directive.
They must also ensure a system through which both online and offline shareholders can seamlessly exercise their voting rights.
This can be done with the help of independent service providers appointed by the said companies.
The stock exchanges may nominate any of their senior officials as an observer to oversee the voting process adopted at the general meetings.
The election process and detailed information of the voting results must be authenticated by the stock exchanges or by an independent scrutiniser/auditor, following which the authenticated report must be submitted to the commission within two days.
The stock market regulator on March 24 last year had relaxed regulations for listed companies on holding AGM, EGM and board meetings temporarily amid the outbreak of coronavirus.
Under the revised rules, the companies could hold their required meetings digitally instead of in-person.
The commission issued an official notice in this regard following an appeal from some listed companies, who sought revision on the existing rules on holding mandatory meetings amid the pandemic.
