Merchant bankers said Wednesday they would not pursue any proposal that could affect the country's capital market.
"The merchant bankers would not engage themselves in anything which would be detrimental to the wellbeing of the capital market," Tanjil Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association (BMBA), told a press briefing at a city hotel.
He said the BMBA would 'redress' any proposal that can cause difficulties in the market.
The BMBA's latest position came in the backdrop of extensive criticisms against a set of proposals submitted to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) on Thursday last.
At the press briefing, the merchant bankers also proposed better pills to ensure sound financial footing and better corporate governance through re-capitalisation.
The BMBA proposed to bring clients having margin loan above Tk 10.0 million under Credit Information Bureau (CIB) reporting to facilitate the recovery of 'huge default' margin loan.
Merchant bankers' other proposals include extension of timeframe for provisioning of margin loan up to December 31, 2015 from December, 2014 and ways of boosting their capital base within three years.
Stakeholders and investors mostly criticised the BMBA's proposal of bringing clients under CIB reporting as it has allegedly created panic among investors.
"It's a proposal to the BSEC only and not final. It may be rejected by the regulator if they think that the proposal is not appropriate and practical," the BMBA president said.
Merchant bankers, however, expressed their surprise following the concern over the proposal of bringing clients under CIB reporting as it was not something new.
"The same was the number one among a set of proposals submitted to the securities regulator in January 2014," Mr Tanjil said.
Sources said merchant bankers came under tremendous pressure from different quarters following their proposals submitted to the securities regulator on Thursday.
Top merchant bankers also allegedly differed with the fresh submission of proposals as they were not aware of those.
Under such circumstances, the BMBA arranged the press briefing on Wednesday to clarify their position.
"Before submitting the proposals to the BSEC, the concerned committee sent recommendations to all general members seeking their comments. We did not receive a single objection to the proposal related to margin loan," the BMBA representatives said in the press briefing.
BMBA Vice President Md. Moniruzzaman, Secretary General Md. Moshiur Rahman and other members of the executive committee were present at the briefing.
