Stock investors have continued their protests against continued fall of key indices at stock markets and demanded immediate resignation of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman M Khairul Hossain.
The country’s prime bourse, DSE, in the last three months lost 516.79 points.
Demanding prime minister’s interference to save them, the investors said that they were going to be penniless.
During their demonstration in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchanges (DSE) at Motijheel in the capital on Wednesday, they alleged that in his eight-year tenure, Khairul Hossain failed to boost investors’ confidence and bring quality stocks in the market.
The small stock investors, under the banner of Bangladesh Pujibazar Biniogkari Oikya Parishad, demanded resignation of Khairul, the longest-serving chairman of the BSEC, within 48 hours or they would go for tougher movement.
The broad index (DSEX) of DSE gained 10.49 points on Wednesday. Index started with an upward trend but had a sharp fall in the first hour. It rebounded in the second hour and remained stable for the rest of the day. At the end of the day, the index closed green at 5259.41 levels with 0.20% increase from the previous day.
The previous day (Tuesday), DSEX plummeted 60.55 points, or 1.14%, to finish the day at 5,249. In the last one month, investors saw their shares' value erode by over Tk22,000 crore. on Wednesday, the capitalization of DSE stood at Tk3,91,886 crore.
The agitating investors said that lack of regulatory control over the stock market, ‘filthy’ IPO approval with huge amount of placement shares, relaxed punishment of fraudsters, manipulators and errant companies shattered investors’ trust and confidence.
Bangladesh Pujibazar Biniogkari Oikya Parishad General Secretary Abdur Razzaq said: “The BSEC chairman is working for the issuer companies and stock brokers, not for investors.”
He demanded his resignation for what he called his failure to protect the investors’ rights.
M Khairul Hossain joined the BSEC as its chairman after stock market collapse in 2010. After completion of his first three years tenure, the government appointed him chairman of the commission for the second tenure for four years as per Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (Amendment) Act, 2012, Later, the government extended his tenure by two more years and he has been currently working as the chairman of the commission.
He is a professor of the Department of Finance at Dhaka University.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, stakeholders said that the recent drop in the stock market was due to confidence crisis and the authorities concerned failed to boost their confidence.
They suggest that stock regulator BSEC should put emphasis on quality initial public offering (IPO) to recoup the investors’ confidence.
IPO is necessary for the stability of the capital market, but it should be ensured that companies with weak fundamentals do not get approval and the regulators should assess more meticulously before approving IPOs.
Former adviser to a caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam, talking to the Dhaka Tribune, stressed the importance of bringing good companies in the market to restore the confidence of the investors.
“When people will find that they can make profit by investing here and will not be harmed by taxation, only then they will come forward to invest more in the market,” he observed.