Recent Reforms and the Development of the Securities Market in Bangladesh

Abstract

The Bangladesh securities market has failed to achieve any significant growth since its inception in 1954. This stagnation is attributable to a number of factors that include, inter alia, the existence of weak legal and regulatory frameworks, the absence of active market professionals, the predominance of individual investors, and a serious dearth of foreign and institutional investors. Legal and regulatory weaknesses are considered to have critically hindered the market's potential growth. Some important laws are outdated, and the regulator has introduced some unrealistic reforms over the years. Most of the reforms accomplished thus far concentrate on incentives to investors and issuers alike, but nothing significant has been done for investor protection. This article argues that effective legal protection to investors is indispensable for the development of, and the restoration of public confidence in, the infant securities market of Bangladesh.

Development of Corporate Governance Regulations: The Case of an Emerging Economy

“…This is consistent with Ozcan and Cokgezen (2003), who report that capital market failures in emerging economies often have long-term destabilising effects with widespread painful outcomes. Solaiman (2006) recently reviewed the development of capital markets in Bangladesh. On the 1996 stock market crash, the paper commented:…”

An analysis of disclosure of IAS-24, related party disclosure of selected insurance company in Bangladesh.

“…The primary objective of the institute is to develop and train cost and management accountants. The fellows qualifying from ICMAB are not required to go through practical accounting and auditing training with a professional accounting firm (Solaiman, 2006). The ICMAB's capacity is constrained by the shortage of well-trained instructors and resources.…”

“…In addition, the professional bodies' engagement with stakeholders, the ICAB is responsible for accounting standards setting in Bangladesh [9][10][11][12] but does not engage the stakeholders in setting of standards; there has even been a lack of any published exposure drafts and/or consultation papers on standards.…”

Corporate governance reforms in emerging countries: A case study of Bangladesh

“…Whether they are effective in carrying out the intended functions is an open question. Although the SECB, the exchanges and the ICAB have taken legal actions against wrongdoers from time to time, these actions are viewed by some as insufficient since many who break the law are believed to go undetected (World Bank, 2002Mir and Rahaman, 2005;Solaiman, 2006;Uddin and Choudhury, 2008;World Bank, 2009;Rashid, 2011 …”