The Chairman of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Mominul Islam, has stated that any reforms will fail if the trust of investors is not upheld.

He informed  that short-term plans are in the works. I hope we will see a good situation in the stock market by June.

He made these remarks during the ‘CMJF Talk’ that was organized by the Capital Market Journalists Forum (CMJF) on Saturday (January 18)

Mominul Islam stated that our stock market is extremely narrow. Over the last 15 years, the stock market has fallen behind. Nevertheless, concurrently, the stock markets of other nations around the globe have undergone significant advancements. Currently, all stakeholders of the country are collaborating constructively to enhance the stock market of Bangladesh.

He said, I am already moving forward with long-term and short-term plans. It will take some time to get the results of the long-term plan. It is like the construction of the foundation of a building cannot be seen from the outside. However, everyone can see the construction work on the building. But the real work is done during the construction of that foundation.

The DSE Chairman said, everything will fail if we cannot maintain the trust of investors. For this, work is being done on a short-term plan. In this regard, 4 tasks are being given importance. One of the four tasks is trying to bring some good companies in a short time. In addition, solving the problem of negative equity, providing tax benefits and stopping insider trading. We have zero tolerance regarding this trading.

He also said, the role that the stock market was supposed to have in Bangladesh has not been. We are far behind the expected level.

The stock exchanges were facing many problems. One of them is the unwanted intervention of the regulatory body. In addition, there are inefficiency and technical problems in the human resources of the stock exchange. And there are also some limitations in the demutualization law, added Mominul Islam.

He said, there is no chartered accountant in the DSE. We are trying to get a chartered accountant.

In response to a question from journalists about the disruption of transactions at DESE due to software problems, the DSE Chairman said, “Currently, the main competency of a stock exchange is its technical capability. Because all trades are now being done electronically. Settlement is also being done electronically. We are currently seeing that the platform we are building is an international standard platform. Even then, there are some minor deviations, I would say that there are some process limitations. If the standard protocols that need to be in place are implemented, the chances of such incidents happening will be reduced to the lowest level.

On what basis are you saying that the stock market will be in a good condition by June. Will all the reforms be completed by June? In response to such a question from journalists, Mominul Islam said, not all the reforms will be completed by June. Some of the reforms can give a positive signal to the market by June. Change will always happen. New opportunities will come, new challenges will come. So, even after 5, 10 years, there will be reforms. It is good, it is working. I am optimistic that a position will be created there by June.” Another macro-economic situation.

He said, at the moment, we have inflation, foreign exchange reserves, and instability in the banking sector. We hope that some stability has come. We are not yet in the expected state. It has been observed that the import of capital machinery has decreased. If real economic investment is not right, then the stock market will reflect the entire market. We have to keep that in mind as well. We expect to see a positive trend in the stock market by June.

In response to another question from journalists, the DSE Chairman stated that some steps will have to be taken in order to reform. But we must ensure that patients do not die when reforming. Adjustments have been made to capital gains tax of more than 50 lakh taka, which have been made in one place. We have additional requirements to fulfill. The Ministry of Finance and the National Bureau of Statistics have expressed their positive assessment of these matters. Secondly, if we can bring some good companies, it will create enthusiasm in the market. Many investors are inactive, they will become active. A positive trend will be created.