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Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to work jointly for the development of both countries’ capital markets by leveraging opportunities in the areas like dual listing, bond issues, and commodity exchange facilities.
The stock market regulators of the two countries — the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), United Arab Emirates — to this end, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at SCA headquarters in Dubai on Thursday.
Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, chairman of BSEC, and Dr Maryam Buti Al Suwaidi, chief executive officer of SCA, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.
The deal would facilitate opportunities like dual listing, bond issuance, joint subscription, and commodity exchange in the capital markets of both countries, said a press statement issued by the BSEC.
Moreover, it would enhance mutual communications between the two stock regulators, playing a significant role in the formulation of laws and regulations, skill development and training, and initiating new products and services in the capital market, the BSEC statement claimed.
Earlier in March this year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited the United Arab Emirates aiming to lure UAE investments in Bangladesh, increasing Bangladesh’s exports to this Middle East nation, and developing mutual relations in many areas.
During the visit, a meeting was held between delegations of the BSEC and the SCA that underscored the need for signing an agreement between the two regulators for leveraging capital market and investment opportunities between the two nations.
In line with that discussion, the MoU between the two nations’ stock regulators was signed on Thursday.
Earlier in February of 2021, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission organised a four-day roadshow in Dubai to allure foreign investors and non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) to invest in Bangladesh’s capital market.
The roadshow styled ‘Rising of Bengal Tiger: Potentials of Bangladesh Capital Markets’ was the first of that kind by the securities regulator BSEC.
The total transactions of the foreign portfolio investors reached Tk 10,388 crore in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in 2020, accounting for 7.7 per cent of the bourse’s total transactions volume, according to the DSE data.
In 2019, the amount was Tk 7,845.45 crore, indicating that the volume surged by 6.9 per cent in just a single year.
In a bid to woo foreign investors, the BSEC allowed stockbrokers to open digital booths at home and abroad in November 2020.
Following the move, UCB Stock Brokerage, formerly UCB Capital Management, launched a digital booth in Dubai. After the stock market crash in 2010, the BSEC put a restriction on brokerage firms opening branches outside the capital.
SCA is a regulatory organ in the United Arab Emirates that regulates the securities and commodities markets in the Middle East nation. The primary role of the organisation is to ensure the orderly development of a fair and efficient securities and commodities market.
The SCA is also intending to implement a wide array of cutting-edge projects in the days to come.
