Now investors can transfer shares from anywhere 

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Central Depository Bangladesh Limited (CDBL) have jointly launched an online platform to allow investors to easily transfer their shares from anywhere.

The service "Online Transmission of Securities and Lodging Complaints by the Clients of Suspended Stock-Broker" will be available on the CDBL website. 

In 2014, Sylhet Metro City Securities, a brokerage house of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), sold shares without permission from the beneficiary owners' account holders and embezzled the money. The CSE suspend the transaction of the brokerage firm after the allegation was proved.

This puts the BO account holders of that house in trouble. Investors could not send their remaining shares as the house was closed for trading. And the process of sending shares is also quite complicated.

In such a situation, DSE and CDBL introduced the service. 

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Commissioner Dr Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed inaugurated the online platform on Tuesday. 

"I never want any brokerage firm to close down or embezzle money from investors. But our job is not to let anyone do things that are against the interests of investors," he said.

He said investigations were underway against some more securities firms such as Banco Securities and Crest Securities, which were shut down on charges of embezzling money from customers. That means no one will be able to go by embezzling customers' money.

Dr Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed said the online platform has been launched to provide better services to investors, adding, "Our job is to keep investors well."

"We want to organise the capital market based on Information and Communication Technology. For this work is underway with all stakeholders concerned. Soon we will launch an online IPO (initial public offering) application system. We hope this will reduce customers' time and costs," he added.

Shuvra Kanti Choudhury, Managing Director and CEO of the CDBL, said, "As per the current rules if an investor wants to transfer shares from one firm's BO account to another firm's BO account, he has to collect a form from us and submit it to the DSE Again, he has to submit the form to us with the recommendation from DSE. Which is time consuming and there is a lot of harassment."

But with the launch of the online service, investors will now be able to transfer shares sitting in their homes without any hassle. You can also make any kind of complaint, he said.

Raquibul Islam Chowdhury, head of Application Development and Value-Added Service of the CDBL, said in the presentation, "To get the online service, an investor has to go to our website and do the account verification."

CSE Managing Director Mamun-Ur-Rashid, "We had a problem with a brokerage firm here. Investors with BO accounts of that firm had a lot of trouble getting the shares back. Now that the online service has been launched, investors will be able to easily transfer shares from troubled securities houses."