United News of Bangladesh

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.