BSEC forms panel to look into activities of stock exchanges

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday formed a four-member investigation committee to look into the overall activities of the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges.
The BSEC also asked stock market intermediaries to block the beneficiary owner’s (BO) accounts of its former chairman Shibli Rubayat-Ul Islam and 10 others.
The stock market regulator formed the committee as investors’ confidence on the stock exchanges was low and they believed that the stock exchange management bodies had not been playing their role properly.
The committee was formed yesterday and will be headed by BSEC Director Md Abul Kalam. Other members of the committee are Miraz-Us-Sunnah, Bony Yeamin Khan and Sadekur Rahman.
The committee has been asked to submit a report within 20 working days and is empowered to investigate any issue relating to the stock exchange.
The BSEC asked the stock exchange management to assist the committee and facilitate audit activities. The regulator already sent letters to the bourses yesterday.
The regulator took the decision shortly after Khondoker Rashed Maqsood’s appointment as BSEC chairman.
A top official of the BSEC said this was a step to unearth whether the stock exchange management had been conducting their activities properly.
An official of the DSE confirmed that they had been informed of the committee and were ready to assist. But the BSEC should investigate its own activities too as several officials were allegedly involved in malpractices, he added.