BSEC to form fund with unclaimed dividends

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) will form a Capital Market Stabilisation Fund with unclaimed dividends of listed companies for the development of the country’s stock markets.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the stock market regulator on Monday when the draft of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission Rules, 2021 was also approved.

The decision of the meeting will be published soon through a gazette notification, said a statement of the BSEC.

Primarily, the size of the fund would be over Tk 20,000 crore, depending on the size of unclaimed dividends of the listed companies.

The BSEC estimated that listed companies have Tk 21,000 crore undistributed and unclaimed money as dividends.

In line with the guideline, these funds will be used to safeguard the interest of the capital market and its general investors.

As per the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) data, there are 335 listed companies, which have unclaimed cash dividends worth Tk 956 crore and unclaimed or unsettled stock dividends worth Tk 19,986 crore as of December 2020.

In November last year, the BSEC sought an update on the status of disbursement of dividend -- both cash and stock -- from all listed companies.