BSEC approves 23 firms for CSE’s TREC

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has okayed entry of 23 new share trading companies to the port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE).

The stock market regulator issued a letter, containing the names of these firms, to the CSE on Thursday. The CSE will later hand over the trading right entitlement certificates (TREC) to the companies concerned.

TREC allows a company to carry out brokerage activities at bourse. The BSEC earlier extended the brokerage licenses or TRECs to 55 companies in favour of the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

There is a non-member firm among the 23 companies. For the second time in CSE’s history, a non-member firm has been granted TREC for carrying out brokerage activities.

The new TREC holders are: Bank Asia Securities, MTB Securities, Padma Bank Securities, NRBC Bank Securities, NLI Securities, Beximco Securities, Shah Mohammad Sagir & Co., Hazrat Amanat Shah Securities, Dayton Holdings, Merchant Securities, SBAC Bank Investment, SFIL Securities, Bridge Stock & Brokerage, Columbia Shares & Securities, Biplob Holdings, Rahman Equity Management, Benemoy Securities, Monarch Holdings, Dynasty Securities, ANC Securities, B & Bss Trade International, Matrix Securities, and DP7 Limited.

Regarding the TREC issuance, BSEC Chairman Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam said the addition of new brokers will make the stock market much stronger.

He, however, urged the new TREC receivers to respect the investors and remain cautious about protecting their savings.

Currently, there are a total of 148 TREC holders at the CSE. Among them, 120 TREC holders have both broker and dealer license, 22 have only broker license and 3 have only dealer license.

As per the BSEC rules, any local and foreign company can buy a TREC with a registration fee of Tk 5 lakh, while the application fee is Tk 1 lakh.

To avail a TREC, the local companies must have a minimum paid-up capital of Tk 5 crore, while the amount is Tk 10 crore for foreign companies.

The joint venture companies require a paid-up capital of Tk eight crore to buy a TREC.

Besides, the local companies need to keep Tk three crore at the stock exchange as security money, while the amount is Tk five crore for foreign companies and Tk four crore for joint venture companies, the rules said.

The CSE began its journey in 1995 at Chattogram City through the open outcry trading system. The fully automated bourse is the first one to introduce online trading system in Bangladesh

The CSE has a paid-up capital of Tk 634 crore and assets of Tk 802 crore, according to the last year’s financial report. At the bourse, equity securities and mutual funds are mainly traded at the stock exchange.

The number of listed companies at the bourse is 340 and mutual fund is 37. Its average daily turnover is Tk 29 crore.

In 2013, the CSE was converted into a demutualised Exchange as per the Exchanges Demutualisation Act, 2013.

Thanks to the demutualization, the CSE was upgraded from not-for-profit to for-profit status and its management was separated from the owners.