Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has called for transforming Bangladesh’s capital market into an institution-led and fully paperless market.
He also urged the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) to move away from its traditional approach and become a fully market-oriented, competitive and professional institution.
He made the remarks as chief guest at a programme marking the golden jubilee and anniversary of the ICB in Dhaka.
The finance minister urged the ICB to move beyond its traditional approach and adopt a market-oriented, competitive and professional operating model to support the modernisation of the country’s capital market and financial sector.
He said the ICB was established through an ordinance with the objective of promoting a free-market economy and developing a market-based capital market in Bangladesh.
The corporation was also expected to mobilise public savings for investment in the capital market and channel funds into the national economy, he added.
Amir Khosru said Bangladesh’s capital market had long been heavily dependent on retail investors, whereas institutional investors played the dominant role in capital markets around the world.
He said the ICB must take a leading role in transforming the country’s retail investor-dependent market into an institution-led one.
As part of the government’s economic reform agenda, appointments to senior positions in financial institutions, including the securities regulator, were being made without political interference, he said.
The government would not make appointments to banks or financial institutions on political considerations, the minister added.
He said work had begun to introduce full automation and digitalisation at every level of the capital market, including the securities regulator, stock exchanges, brokerage houses and the ICB.
Emphasising the principle of “No Paper Transaction, Nothing Paper”, he said all activities relating to listing applications, approvals and decision-making must be completed online.
Referring to a recent breakfast meeting in New York attended by the Prime Minister and senior executives of 15 leading global institutions with a combined network of around $36 trillion, Amir Khosru said international investors had expressed confidence in Bangladesh’s capital market and economic reforms.
He said initiatives were under way to create an environment for attracting global capital to Bangladesh through private funds, climate financing and derivatives products.
The minister also urged domestic financial institutions to move beyond their dependence on traditional banking practices and become familiar with international standards and practices associated with global financial markets.
He expressed hope that the ICB would draw on its experience and internal restructuring to emerge as a modern and efficient institution meeting international standards.
The programme was chaired by ICB Managing Director Niranjan Chandra Debnath.
Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Masud Khan, Finance Division Secretary Md Khairuzzaman Majumder, Financial Institutions Division Secretary Nazma Mobarek and ICB Chairman Abu Ahmed, among others, attended the event.
