Stockmarket disciplined now: Muhith
Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said the stockmarket has shaken off its previous speculative image and has now become a fully regulated one after reforms.
The stockmarket was a "fatka bazar" (speculative market) even a few years ago, he said at the launch of two reports prepared by the bank and financial institutions division at the secretariat.
The finance minister said the share market went through a big jolt in 2010 and since then various initiatives were taken to reform it. A four-member team led by the chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission spearheaded the reform programme.
Now, the stockmarket is fully regulated and investment-friendly, he said.
Muhith said attention must now be diverted to the insurance sector, which is “very weak” and is a ground for “serious irregularities and corruptions”.
On the report -- Activities in Bank, Insurance and Financial Institutions 2014-2015 -- Banking Division Secretary M Aslam Alam said the report is published every year. But this year, apart from banks, information on insurance companies, financial institutions, microcredit institutions and capital market has also been presented.
MA Mannan, state minister for finance and planning, said the financial sector saw rapid progress.
While there are adequate laws to regulate the institutions, the application and monitoring are lacking. He called for the monitoring to be strengthened.
In fiscal 2014-15, BSEC approved new investment proposals worth Tk 10,400 crore, down from previous year's Tk 17,800 crore, according to the report.
The stockmarket regulator approved three mutual funds with investment of Tk 120 crore last fiscal year. In fiscal 2013-14, it approved two mutual funds with investment amount of Tk 200 crore.
The report -- National Strategy for Preventing Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism 2015-2017 -- presented the 11 government strategies to check the various money laundering activities.
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