Stakeholders at a seminar on Wednesday stressed the need for big-budget institutional investment in the country's capital market.
"Our market is dominated by retail investors, there is a severe lack of institutional investors," said Salman F Rahman, private investment and industry adviser to the prime minister, while speaking as chief guest at a seminar organized by the Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies (BAPLC) virtually.
The BAPLC organized the seminar titled "Investors Resilience: Challenges and Opportunities in Alignment with Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC)", to mark the World Investor Week-2022 declared by the Madrid-based IOSCO (International Organization of Securities Commissions/)
The World Investor Week is a global campaign being carried out under the aegis of IOSCO from October 10 to 16 to raise awareness about the importance of investor education and protection in stocks trade.
Chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam and former President of BAPLC Azam J Chowdhury joined the function as special guests.
Vice President of the BAPLC Syed Nasim Manzur was the moderator of the seminar.
There is everything for the progress of the capital market, but to no avail. "We have everything but the market is not progressing,” said Salman F Rahman.
He noted that the institutions which invest in the capital market have been lacking in professionals.
On IPO floating, Rahman told the meeting that many reputed companies, including one from the pharma sector, are floating shares on the market on grounds of lacking proper valuation.
He also notes that companies in many cases do not give dividends to the sponsors for further investment.
Chairman of the BSEC Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam told that market lacks trained and properly educated people.
He said none comes to the regulator with innovative product developments.
Asif Ibrahim, chairman of Chittagong Stock Exchange, stressed financial literacy for market development.
He also stressed the need for product development and incentivizing promising companies to float shares.
Arif Khan, vice-chairman, Shanta Asset Management, said Bangladesh's market remained less impacted although many big markets were impacted amid the war in Ukraine and other turmoil in the global financial markets.
Khan also said Bangladesh's market is highly dominated by retail investors who lack adequate knowledge and expertise on the market.
The keynote paper presented by Mominul Islam, managing director and CEO of IPDC Finance, said there is a need for encouragement for long-term investment with best fiscal benefits.
He suggested mandatory publication of portfolio performance at different time horizons by merchant banks and asset-management companies.
The seminar was chaired by president of BAPLC M Anis Ud Dowla.
