Demutualisation scheme gets final BSEC nod

---

Mohammad Mufazzal The securities regulator gave Thursday its final approval to the stock exchange demutualisation scheme with the provision of appointing the majority number of independent directors in the 13-member board structure of each of the bourses. The move comes following long demand of investors and experts to ensure accountability and transparency in the country's stock exchanges by bringing structural changes in their operations through separation of management from ownership. The demand for demutualisation of both the bourses became stronger after the 2010-11 stock market debacle. The Khandker Ibrahim Khaled-led probe committee, formed after the debacle, also recommended demutualisation in its report. The approval to the demutualisation scheme came at a commission meeting of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), presided over by its Chairman Professor M Khairul Hossain. Four BSEC commissioners - Professor Helal Uddin Nizami, Md. Amzad Hossain, Arif Khan and A. Salam Sikder - were present in the meeting. In a press release, signed by BSEC executive director Mohammad Saifur Rahman, the securities regulator termed its approval of demutualisation scheme as a 'revolutionary move'. "Transparency and accountability will be ensured in the bourses through execution of the demutualisation process. The exchanges will be turned into profitable organisations from non-profitable ones."