Calls for BSEC chairman to step down if investor confidence isn’t restored

Investors have called for the urgent restoration of confidence in the declining capital market, warning that if this is not achieved, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood should resign due to perceived incompetence.

Under the auspices of the Bangladesh Pujibazar Biniogkari Sommilito Porishod – a body of investors, they made the call in a press conference at the Capital Market Journalists' Forum office in the capital today (28 September).

Ataullah Naim, president of the organisation, outlined a 12-point demand aimed at rebuilding investor confidence in the capital market, ensuring stability and mobility, and addressing the current issues faced by both investors and the market.

The organisation's key demands include setting a deadline for listing 28 companies in the Z category and prohibiting their directors from leaving the country. 

Key demands include setting a deadline for downgrading 28 companies into the Z category and prohibiting their directors from leaving the country, enhancing bank participation in the market, halting forced sales, introducing buyback regulations, holding merchant banks accountable for listing IPOs of non-reputable companies and others.

In response to a question, Ataullah Naim said, "We are not demanding the chairman's immediate resignation. He deserves the opportunity to prove himself. However, he seems to be making unilateral decisions after assuming his position. Managing a bank is fundamentally different from overseeing the capital market."