Masud Khan, the newly appointed chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), on Tuesday promised a sweeping transformation of the country's capital market, outlining plans to scrap floor prices, crack down on market manipulation, attract foreign investment, and shift the market from retail-investor dependence to an institutionally driven, credible investment destination.

Delivering his inaugural address at a press conference at the BSEC office in Agargaon, shortly after taking charge on Tuesday afternoon, Masud acknowledged that the capital market had failed to keep pace with Bangladesh's broader economic growth and that investor confidence had been severely eroded over the years.

“Trust is not built through speeches. Trust is not built by artificially supporting the market. Trust comes from fairness, transparency, consistency and accountability,” the new BSEC chairman said.

In one of his most significant policy pronouncements, Masud declared that no floor price would be imposed on securities in the future, and that existing floor prices would be phased out in a calibrated manner based on market conditions, allowing the market to return to a natural price discovery process.

Masud set out an unambiguous vision for the regulator: to transform Bangladesh's capital market from a retail-driven frontier market into a transparent, institutionally anchored market capable of mobilising long-term domestic and international capital for the country's economic growth.

He said the new commission had assumed responsibility at a critical juncture, when many investors had suffered losses, quality companies remained reluctant to list, foreign investor participation had dwindled, and the mutual fund industry had failed to earn public trust.

Key Reform Pillars

The new BSEC chairman outlined a multi-pronged reform agenda anchored on seven priorities:

Smarter regulation and deregulation: The commission will conduct a comprehensive review of existing rules, reporting requirements and approval processes, moving towards a principles-based and risk-based regulatory framework. Quarterly interim financial reporting requirements, which he described as more burdensome than international standards under IAS 34, will be reviewed.

Full digitisation: IPO applications, rights issues, bond and sukuk applications, licensing and regulatory filings will be progressively migrated to fully digital platforms. The goal, he said, is a faster, more transparent and more accessible regulator.

More quality listings: The commission will actively engage with multinationals, state-owned enterprises and large corporate groups to encourage listing. A direct listing framework will be introduced, allowing eligible companies to list without raising fresh capital.

A “Listed Company Advantage Programme”: Working with the National Board of Revenue, the commission will seek to make listing structurally more attractive for companies, including through wider corporate tax differentials between listed and non-listed firms, risk-based tax assessments, faster dispute resolution and expedited approvals. “For a good company, being listed should be more attractive than staying private,” Masud said.

Stronger institutional participation: The commission will work to revitalise the mutual fund industry, strengthen governance and transparency within it, and promote professional management of provident and gratuity funds to deepen the pool of long-term institutional capital.

Foreign investment attraction: The commission acknowledged concerns among foreign investors about governance, disclosure, profit repatriation and market practices, and committed to addressing them systematically while engaging more proactively with international investors.

Tougher market surveillance: A modern, integrated surveillance framework connecting BSEC, DSE, CSE and CDBL with real-time monitoring capability will be built. Special initial focus will be placed on Z-category securities. Insider trading, circular trading, wash trades, pump-and-dump schemes, front running and other forms of market abuse will be detected faster, investigated more deeply and penalised more rigorously.

Masud was emphatic that the commission’s objective is not to control prices or prevent normal market fluctuations.

“Prices will be set by the market not by manipulation,” he said, adding that honest investors and legitimate market participants have nothing to fear, while those who abuse investor trust or violate securities law will face far stricter enforcement than in the past.

Closing his address, the chairman said the commission's success would be measured not by announcements, but by on-the-ground outcomes. “We will hold ourselves accountable.”

He noted that three commissioners had already been appointed through a rigorous merit-based selection process, with the appointment of a fourth commissioner currently under way.

Masud expressed confidence that a full commission, working in partnership with the government, market intermediaries and investors, would be able to take Bangladesh's capital market to a new height.