The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has urged banks to contribute to the growth of the local bond market by boosting their involvement in purchasing and selling debt securities.
The Commissioner of the BSEC, Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed, emphasized the significance of the bond market as a vital source of long-term funding with substantial potential in Bangladesh.
This request was made in a meeting held at its Dhaka office, where it engaged with various bankers and institutional investors.
He stated that the BSEC is committed to enhancing the sustainability and utility of the bond market for entrepreneurs, and called for active participation from institutional investors.
During the meeting, bankers highlighted factors such as the high cost of secondary trading, lengthy approval processes, artificial interest rates, and the current bond yield system as reasons for the existing state of the bond market.
BSEC introduced a secondary market for trading bonds on October 11, 2022.
However, the overall trading volume in the market remains relatively low, amounting to less than Tk15 crore, according to Dhaka Stock Exchange data.
Selim RF Hussain, the president of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh, and a representative from Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank, was present at the event.
