The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has asked Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Central Depository Bangladesh (CDBL) to comply with relevant provisions of the Labour Act 2006 that stipulates profitable companies must share their annual profit with employees.
The stock market regulator in its letter on Thursday asked the managing directors of both the bourses and the depository company to comply with the said provision if it was yet to be followed and report back to the BSEC within three working days.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) has already given 5 per cent of its last financial year’s net profit to the workers' profit participation fund (WPPF).
The directorate of commercial audit, a wing of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh, had sent a letter to the BSEC, mentioning that the DSE had allocated Tk 2.66 crore for its WPPF for fiscal 2019-20, as the bourse was waiting for the government's opinion whether it could be exempted from the profit-sharing provision.
DSE employees had been receiving their profit share since 2014-15 financial year. They last received a slice of the profit in the 2018-19 financial year.
“We have a board meeting scheduled on March 1 -- a day ahead of the BSEC deadline, where we will raise the topic there and reply to the BSEC letter in time,” said Abdul Matin Patwari, the acting managing director of the DSE.
CDBL employees have been deprived of Tk 19.77 crore in their share in the company’s annual profits over the years, according to the commercial audit directorate.
