Merchant bankers, brokers want to issue bonds

The capital market stakeholders urged the securities regulator to allow the merchant banks and stock brokerages to issue bonds.

The call came at a meeting between the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and the stakeholders on Tuesday. The meeting was organised to find out the ways of increasing liquidity in the falling stock market.

The merchant bankers and brokerage houses proposed to raise funds by issuing bonds so that they can invest in the stock market, BSEC Spokesperson Mohammad Rezaul Karim told the Business Post.

Apart from this, the meeting also discussed faster investment from the market stabilization fund, disbursement of Tk 900 crore kept for the affected investors, and Tk 200 crore fund formed by every bank to shore up the falling market.

The meeting presided over by BSEC Commissioner Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed was held at the BSEC headquarters.

Top stock brokerages and stakeholders attended the meeting. Representatives from the DSE Brokers Association of Bangladesh (DBA) and BMBA attend the meeting.

Earlier, the stock market regulator disclosed Tk21,000 crore of undistributed and unclaimed dividends by the listed companies, which it now plans to use as the safeguard of the capital market and its general investors.

In 2020, the Bangladesh Bank allowed banks to form a Tk 200-crore special fund each by taking low-interest loans from the central bank to invest in the stock market.

On Tuesday, the benchmark index closed its seventh successive session in the red with a decrease of 76 points or over 1 per cent to settle at 7,020—the lowest since September 2 this year when it was 6,981. In seven sessions, it shed almost 5 per cent or 350 points.

The market has been under pressure for a week as rising communal tension and economic sentiment turned less bullish amid rising inflation, taka depreciation, and falling remittance inflow.