The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Company Secretary of 44 capital market-listed businesses, as well as the Audit Head of the Capital Market Stabilization Fund (CMSF), have been summoned by the regulatory body, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC). The purpose of this summons is to have a conversation with them in order to find out why these listed companies have not deposited their undistributed dividends into the CMSF.
The meeting is set for Sunday morning, July 10 in the Securities Commission building’s meeting room. It is requested that they attend this meeting. The Managing Directors (MDs) of the individual companies have received a letter signed by BSEC Assistant Director Md. Ariful Islam about this issue.

The companies involved include: British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company Limited, Bangladesh Submarine Cable, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), Atlas Bangladesh, Singer Bangladesh, Munnu Ceramics, Kohinoor Chemicals, Indo-Bangla Pharmaceuticals, Kattali Textiles, Monospool Bangladesh, Baraka Power, Square Pharmaceuticals Limited, Tamizuddin Textiles, Ibn Sina Pharmaceuticals, GQ Ball Pen Industries Limited, Purabi General Insurance, Eastern Housing, Beacon Pharmaceuticals, Libra Infusions, Wata Chemicals, Aftab Automobiles, Reckitt Benckiser, Bangladesh General Insurance, Heidelberg Cement, Rupali Insurance, Olympic Industries, Padma Oil, Argon Denims, United Insurance, FarEast Islami Life Insurance, Delta Spinners, Navana CNG, Popular Life Insurance, Samarita Hospital, Alltex Industries, Bangaz Limited; Apex Footwear, Maxon Spinning, ICB AMCL First Agrani Bank Mutual Fund, Grameen One: Scheme Two, ICB AMCL Third NRB Mutual Fund, Prime Bank First ICB AMCL Mutual Fund, ICB AMCL Second Mutual Fund, Daffodil Computers, and CMSF Audit Head Md. Shohaq Khalifa.

As per the regulations, if the dividend, right share, or subscription funds owed to investors in publicly traded securities remain unallocated for three consecutive years, they must be deposited into the Capital Market Stabilization Fund. The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) implemented a law regarding this in June 2021. Following this, the process of returning unclaimed or unallocated dividends from various securities listed on the stock market to the CMSF commenced. Nevertheless, BSEC sources indicated that despite the law’s implementation, numerous companies are failing to deposit the unallocated dividends into the fund punctually.

Previously, a penalty was established for delays in depositing the unallocated dividends of listed companies into the CMSF. On January 22 of the previous year, the capital market regulator, BSEC, issued an order concerning this matter.

The order specifies that if any listed securities delay in depositing the unallocated cash dividends into the fund, a penalty of 2 percent will be imposed for each month of delay. Likewise, a 2 percent penalty will also apply for each month of delay in transferring the unallocated bonus dividends to the fund. However, for bonus dividends, this penalty will be calculated based on the market price of the shares.

Additionally, if investors fail to transfer unallocated rights shares or contributions lying in various institutions to the fund in a timely manner, a penalty of 2 percent will be charged for each month of delay.