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The Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) has asked the authorities to exempt its nominated directors from being listed as loan defaulters by the central bank’s Credit Information Bureau (CIB), arguing that the classification is unfair and hampers its ability to safeguard investor interests.

In a recent letter to the Financial Institutions Division (FID), the state-owned investment agency said its officials are sometimes appointed to the boards of companies struggling with loan defaults—strictly to protect ICB’s stakes and those of small investors. Yet those officials risk being tagged as defaulters themselves, even though they neither borrow nor provide any personal guarantees.

Established in 1976 to drive industrialisation and build a stable capital market, ICB has long served as a key institutional investor. Under the ICB Act 2014, its officials — including the managing director — can be nominated as directors in investee companies to safeguard the corporation’s interests.

But the CIB’s practice of marking nominated directors as defaulters has become a major obstacle, ICB warned. Officials increasingly hesitate to accept directorships, fearing their personal credit status will be harmed. ICB noted that if its managing director is flagged as a defaulter due to a company’s unpaid loan, the institution itself is automatically treated as a defaulter as well.

ICB also pointed out that no law or regulatory guideline—whether in the Companies Act, the Corporate Governance Code, or Bangladesh Bank circulars—specifically addresses how investor representatives should be treated in the CIB database.

It cited more recent policy moves that recognise similar concerns. A securities regulator directive from October 2023 clarified that independent directors should not be placed on the CIB list for a company’s unpaid loans. A Bangladesh Bank circular issued in January 2025 echoed the same principle for independent directors of financial companies.

Given this precedent, ICB argued that its nominated directors should be treated like independent directors, as they act only as institutional representatives.

“We have requested the FID to take necessary measures so that the ICB and its nominated directors are not enlisted as defaulters by the CIB,” said a senior ICB official.

An FID official confirmed receiving the request, adding: “We are working on the issue.”