The government has formed a four-member committee to strengthen the capital market regulator Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC). This committee will also work to develop the stock market.

The Financial Institutions Division (FID) of the Ministry of Finance issued a notification in this regard on Monday (March 17).

It is learned that the chairman of the committee is Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, Special Assistant to the State Minister with the rank of Principal Advisor. On the other hand, Professor M Sadiqul Islam, a faculty member of the Finance Department of Dhaka University and Additional Secretary of the Insurance and Capital Markets Department of FID, will also be on the committee. BSEC Commissioner Farzana Lalarukh will serve as the member secretary of the committee.

BSEC officials detained the BSEC chairman and commissioners on March 5 to demand several demands. The government then formed this committee following an application to the regulatory agency FID.

The committee will also recommend ways to strengthen the regulatory and monitoring activities of the stock market, attract investment and stabilize the market.

In addition, it will provide advice on increasing liquidity in the market, improving corporate governance and creating a conducive environment for new companies to enter the stock market.

Earlier, the BSEC letter to the Financial Institutions Division said that considering the government’s important information infrastructure, it has also informed about the decision to appoint armed Ansar for the security of BSEC. In addition, to speed up the work of the commission, a request has been made to the Ministry of Public Administration through the Financial Institutions Division to appoint 19 officers on an urgent basis. Out of these 19 officers, 3 are of the rank of Executive Director of the Commission, 3 are of the rank of Director, 1 is of the rank of Commission Secretary and 12 are of the rank of Joint or Additional Director.

The BSEC has also requested the Financial Institutions Division to investigate through intelligence agencies whether anyone outside the Commission’s officers and employees is involved in the incident that occurred at BSEC. Along with this, it has also been recommended to strengthen the security of the Chairman and Commissioners of the Commission.

A total of 12 recommendations have been made in the BSEC letter. These recommendations also include taking immediate steps to reform the BSEC’s organizational structure, investigating the embezzlement of funds from the CMDP project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government to develop the capital market, and investigating the opposition of BSEC officials to the appointment of Mashrur Riaz, who was previously appointed as chairman by the Ministry of Finance.