Dhaka bourse gets 9 more new brokers
Earlier, the commission approved 46 new brokerage houses in two phases
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has received the securities regulator's approval for issuing brokerage licenses, technically called the Trading Right Entitlement Certificate (TREC), to nine new companies.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) issued the approval letter to the DSE's managing director on Thursday.
The nine companies are – Assurant Securities and Management Ltd, Matrix Securities Ltd, CAL Securities Ltd, SBI Securities Ltd, Wings Fin Ltd, Fareast Shares and Securities Ltd, Trust Regional Equity Ltd, Innova Securities Ltd and DP 7 Ltd.
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The BSEC also instructed four applicant firms to change their memorandum and submit the updated copy within 14 October. If they failed to submit the updated information within the stipulated time, their application will be canceled.
Earlier, the commission approved 46 new brokerage houses in two phases.
In February, the DSE received 66 applications after it invited applications from the interested firms.
There were no foreign firms among the 66 applicants as expected by the regulator and industry professionals. However, a joint venture firm applied at that time, but the DSE found it ineligible.
Finally, the DSE found 51 firms eligible and forwarded their names to the BSEC in late April.
Currently, of the 250 DSE TREC holders, 236 are active and each of the existing TREC holders is also a member and shareholder of the stock exchange company.
In recent years, the BSEC felt that the brokerage industry needs to expand and be more competitive. Last year, it came up with rules to allow non-member firms in the brokerage business.
The brokerage industry was initially concerned about new entrants as existing firms were struggling to survive in a decade-long depressed market.
However, the concern seems to be no more, thanks to a higher entry barrier set by the BSEC in terms of financial and other eligibility criteria. Besides, the stock market has been in a bull run for a year.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange is also in a similar process of issuing new brokerage licenses to eligible firms that would not be shareholders of the exchange.
