ICB Securities, ICB Capital to waive interests of around Tk 3.59 billion

The ICB Securities Trading Company Limited and ICB Capital Management Limited have decided to waive interests of around Tk 3.59 billion counted in margin accounts having negative equity, the officials said.
Of these two companies, ICB Capital Management will exempt interest worth around Tk 1.9 billion, whereas ICB Securities Trading Company will waive interest of around Tk 1.69 billion counted in their clients' margin accounts.
The move comes to restore activities in the affected investors' margin accounts which witnessed erosion after 2010-11 stock market debacle.
The officials said the decision of waiving interests by ICB Securities Trading Company Limited and ICB Capital Management Limited will be announced very soon.  
Both ICB Securities Trading Company Limited and ICB Capital Management Limited are subsidiaries of the state-run Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB).
Meanwhile, the ICB has also started the implementation of its decision earlier taken to waive interest of Tk 1.62 billion counted in their clients' accounts having negative equity.
To execute their latest decision, both of the subsidiaries of the ICB will waive interests up to 80 per cent counted during January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2016.
The interest waiver facility that will be provided by ICB Securities Trading Company Limited and ICB Capital Management Limited may vary considering the type of margin accounts maintained by the companies.
In some cases, the amount of waiver may be 100 per cent.
A total of 556 clients of ICB Securities Trading Company Limited are entitled to get 80 per cent waiver of interests, while 34 clients will get 100 per cent waiver, the official said.
The clients who purchased shares taking margin loans will require the payment of 20 per cent of total interests.  
"80 per cent of the interests will be waived. And the remaining 20 per cent of the interest will have to pay through three installments within one year," said a senior official of the ICB Securities Trading Company.
According to him, the amount of interest that will be waived by ICB Securities Trading Company is around Tk 1.69 billion counted in the clients' margin accounts.
"No interest will be charged on 20 per cent of interests if the clients are able to pay the amount through three installments within one year," said the official of ICB Securities Trading Company.
He also said without making down payment of 20 per cent interest, the clients will not be able to avail the waiver facilities.
Before the 2010-11 stock market debacle, many lenders provided substantial amount of margin loans to clients by breaching stipulated limit set by the securities' regulator.
Khandkar Ibrahim Khaled-led probe committee blamed the uncontrolled disbursement of margin loans to make the country's capital market over-heated.
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