Speakers at a seminar yesterday blamed the government for not giving proper attention to capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), saying a lot of scams have taken place due to lack of SEC's capacity.
"The regulator was created but it is not properly taken care of. The SEC is now a forgotten child of the government," observed Mirza Azizul Islam, immediate past chairman of the SEC while presenting the keynote speech at the seminar.
He also stressed the need for making proper and timely disclosures for the sake of transparency in the capital market.
Commenting on the present ups and downs in the bourses, Islam, now the chairman of Sonali Bank, said index is now nearly double than what it was in 2003.
Faruq Ahmad Siddiqi, chairman of SEC, echoed his predecessor. "I accept that some more attention of the government is necessary for the SEC and its capacity needs to be strengthened further."
Bangladesh University organised the seminar titled 'Capital Market and the Role of Securities and Exchange Commission in Bangladesh' at its auditorium in Dhaka.
The SEC chairman mentioned there are now around 700,000 beneficiary owners' (BO) accounts but there are allegations that a single person is operating many BO accounts still now.
"These people are targeting IPOs only and they are responsible for drying up the secondary market," he felt.
Siddiqi said Dhaka Electric Supply Company (Desco) and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) will be listed with the bourses within a month taking the opportunity of direct listing system.
"Process for direct listing has already started. We are receiving applications and good shares held by the government need to be offloaded," he added.
Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive officer of Dhaka Stock Exchange, observed capacity of the regulator should be strengthened. "Running the regulator with a very few people should not be continued. And the SEC needs more autonomy."
Many a companies took money from the investors through initial public offerings but later they get lost, he said citing the example of Mark (BD) Limited.
Proper regulation was not there in the past, the CEO said. "As a result, a lot of incidents took place in the capital market."
Ahmad Rashid Lali, senior vice president of the DSE, said, "Unfortunately, charge-sheets for the 1996 scam have not been prepared yet."
Quazi Azher Ali, vice chancellor of the university, also spoke at the seminar.
