Steps outlined for stock marketstability at SEC meeting

FE Report The stakeholders of the stock market have talked about measures for the bourses' restoration to normalcy throwing focus on the existing problems, which will have to be solved through joint efforts, officials have said. The assurance came Monday after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) held a meeting with the stakeholders aimed at the restoration of market stability. "At today's meeting we have discussed the overall situation of the market and identified the problems, which will be solved through joint efforts," SEC chairman Professor M Khairul Hossain told reporters. Mr Hossain said the regulator expects the market to bounce back riding on joint initiatives taken by the SEC and the other stakeholders. At Monday's meeting, DSE (Dhaka Stock Exchange) senior vice president Ahsanul Islam Titu, CSE (Chittagong Stock Exchange) president Fakhor Uddin Ali Ahmed, Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association (BMBA) president Sheikh Murtoza Ahmed and the representatives of Asset Management Companies were present. Following the speech of the CSE chairman, the stakeholders and an SEC representative, Mohammad Saifur Rahman, attended the formal briefing held at the SEC's board room. At the briefing, the reporters asked the stakeholders and SEC to explain the outcome of a series of meeting held previously to restore market stability. They also asked the regulator to speak about the specific problems identified at Monday's meeting. But the regulator and the stakeholders did not mention about any specific list of problems, which was supposed to be announced at the press briefing in line with the speech of the SEC chairman. DSE senior vice president Ahsanul Islam Titu said the market would bounce back if the stakeholders played their due responsibilities. "We have discussed how foreign and fresh investments could be made in the market," Titu said. CSE president Fakhor Uddin Ali Ahmed said there was no reason for crisis in the country's stock market as the "growth of our economy is above expectation". "We must boost the investors' confidence in the market. We have suggested the regulator to take some measures regarding market stability," Mr Ali Ahmed said. He said the investors should go for long-term investment for the sake of the market's growth and good return as well. Yawar Sayeed, the managing director of AIMS of Bangladesh, said at Monday's meeting they had made a list of structural problems in an effort to take proper measures to solve them. "The participants also discussed the margin loan issue and the investors' shaky confidence," Mr. Sayeed said. He said, "We should not expect overnight changes in the market as it will take a significant time to solve the existing problems." "At the meeting the participants also expressed their views regarding a strong presence of the securities regulator for the sake of proper market monitoring," Mr Sayeed said. BMBA president Sheikh Murtoza Ahmed said Monday's meeting holds varying degrees of significance as all market-related stakeholders have reached the unanimous decision to work jointly for sake of market restoration. "Earlier, the regulator separately sat with the stakeholders. For the first time, all stakeholders highlighted their problems from a common platform," Mr. Ahmed said.