Prominent economist and public policy expert Dr M Masrur Reaz has been appointed chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).
The Financial Institutions Division – operating under the finance ministry – issued a circular in this regard on Tuesday. He will be the chairman of the BSEC for the next four years, with immediate effect.
After the fall of Sheikh Hasina on August 5, the then BSEC chairman Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul Islam, resigned on Saturday night along with two other commissioners Prof Rumana Islam and Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed.
Dr Reaz is the chairman and CEO of Policy Exchange Bangladesh, a private think tank. He worked as a senior economist in the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation (FCI) Global Practice of the World Bank Group (WBG), where he served for ten years during 2010–2020.
As part of WBG's work, he was based in WBG's Singapore hub office in 2019-2020 and led competitiveness initiatives in the East Asia, Pacific, and South Asia regions.
He also served as the programme manager/head of the Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF), a flagship initiative of the World Bank Group that helps strengthen the economic competitiveness of Bangladesh.
Masrur task-led WBG's support to the Government of India on reform efforts related to the ease of Doing Business over the period 2015-2017.
He led the World Bank Group's investment climate programme in Nepal in 2013-2014 and led a strategy team in 2013 to develop Trade & Competitiveness strategy in Sri Lanka.
Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Masrur worked as an Adviser in the Economic Growth team of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) where he led programmes on financial infrastructure, tax reform, privatisation, and business enabling environment.
Masrur earlier worked in academia as an Assistant Professor of Finance, and in the private sector as an analyst. He has published several research publications in international and regional journals, and authored a number of knowledge pieces within the World Bank Group.
Masrur is a commonwealth scholar and holds a PhD in Development Economics from the University of Manchester, UK, and an MBA from the University of New Orleans, USA.
Dr Reaz is the founder and Chairman of Policy Exchange of Bangladesh, a private sector think-tank focusing on applied public policy and market solutions for economic growth.
He was also a member of the Policy and Regulatory Sub-committee and the Investment Sub-committee for the Logistics sector respectively formed by the Ministry of Commerce, and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA).
Under the leadership of Dr Reaz, Policy Exchange together with Metropolitan chamber of Commerce and Industries (MCCI) introduced Bangladesh’s first Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), most widely used tool globally for economic pulse check, and the first home-grown, country focused investment climate index known as Bangladesh Business Climate Index (BBX).
