The brokerage firms nowadays are in a break-even state due to reduced load of business activities. It will take time to fully overcome the 'crisis' that ensued following the 2010-11 stock market debacle, stock brokers said.
Even three to four months back the firms were in such a bleak situation that they could hardly run the office properly.
They, however, expressed optimism about overcoming the crisis as their clients, who earlier were out of communication, have started to participate in trading activities.
The officials of the leading brokerage firm --- LankaBangla --- have said that they observed a daily turnover of Tk 2.5 billion to Tk 3.0 billion in 2010.
Currently, their average daily turnover is around less than Tk 1.0 billion.
"It's not possible to recoup the losses with the turnover of last three or four months. Nevertheless, we are happy as the present market trend is sparking hopes," said Wali Ul Islam, the chief executive officer of LankaBangla Securities.
A similar opinion came from president of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Al Maruf Khan.
"In the heyday of the capital market, the brokerage firms employed a staff member on a salary worth Taka forty thousand, although he/she deserved a salary amounting to around ten thousand taka. However, it was easy for the firms due to high trade volume," said
He added that after the stock market debacle, the daily turnover of the capital market dropped drastically and then the brokerage firms were compelled to terminate some staff.
"Similarly, many of us shelved the then plans of business expansion. The brokerage firms now do not terminate their staff. You can say the firms are in a break-even state due to reduced business activities," said Mr. Khan.
According to the CSE president, the 80 per cent daily turnover of the market comes through 20 per cent of brokerage firms.
"The profits of such brokerage firms remain steady in spite of lower turnover. That's why the situation of the small firms is not satisfactory like the large ones," Mr Khan added.
The premier bourse Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) observed an average daily turnover of around Tk 16.50 billion in the calendar year 2010, and the value dropped to around Tk 4.42 billion in 2012.
Over the last three months, the market has been observing a rising trend of the daily average turnover worth around Tk 4.0 billion.
The representatives of some other brokerage firms of DSE and CSE have said at the moment they are able to breathe a sigh of relief, but a few months back they were unable to bear daily expenditures of the firms and had to terminate a portion of their office staff.
"You can say that presently we are able to meet our daily expenses from the earnings of the daily turnover," said Khugesta Nur-E-Naharin, managing director of the Modern Securities.
She said they had been habituated with the bad situation of the capital market that prevailed after the 2010-11 market setback.
"Another reason of the present break-even state is that earlier we squeezed our business size. Now we are happy as our clients are coming back to us following a better turnover," Ms Khugesta added.
The officials at the Modern Securities have said the positive feature of the present market trend is that the investors are becoming market-friendly despite the ongoing political crisis.
On the other hand, the DSE president Ahsanul Islam Titu said it would take some more time for normalcy to return to the business of the firms.
"I do not know if some brokerage firms have already overcome their crises. It is tough for all of us to overcome the crises as the companies' performances are yet to be up to the mark," Mr Titu said.
He has also stressed a parliamentary election, with the participation of all parties for the sake of the stakeholders.
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