Online stock complaint option delivering results
A new option allowing investors to file stock market-related complaints online on the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission’s (BSEC) website is yielding results.
The Customer Complaint Address Module was launched by the BSEC on September 30 with the aid of Central Depository Bangladesh.
It is delivering responses and solutions within 10 days on an average of the complaints being filed.
It takes anywhere between three to four months, even more in some cases, to get solutions through physically registering grievances via letters and applications.
This massive shift has led to a rise in complaints.
In the last two and a half months, 148 complaints were filed whereas in fiscal 2018-19, 245 had been registered.
A BSEC official said the physical process was obviously slower as all correspondence and exchange of documents were being done by hand and courier.
Stock investor Masudur Rahman said the process had been made convenient and accessible, especially through mobile phones.
“I can trace the status of complaints, so it is a good initiative,” he said, adding that he had never opted for the physical process for it being lengthy.
Of the 148 complaints, 120 got replies and had no further issues. The remaining 28 are still in the process of being catered to through further inquiries and correspondence.
Most of the complaints were against brokerage houses and listed companies. Issues include failure to carry out transaction orders and performing unauthorised ones and non-payment of sales proceeds.
Over 80 complaints were made against Shah Mohammad Sagir & Co, a brokerage house of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), over failures in settling transactions and in forwarding sales proceeds to BO accounts.
The BSEC already ordered selling off the brokerage license and paying off the BO account holders.
There were 21 complaints over non-crediting of dividends. In most of these cases, it was found that investors had not properly provided information in their BO accounts.
The complaints revealed that a large number of stock investors had not provided mobile phone numbers and correct bank account numbers to brokerage houses, said Farhad Ahmed, a BSEC executive director.
People complain of not knowing whether their transaction orders have been carried out but if they had provided their mobile phone numbers, they would have got an SMS instantly over any changes to their BO accounts, he said.
Investors should properly provide all relevant information to brokerage houses, he added.
One example is of a stock investor complaining that a multinational company had not paid her cash dividend. The company revealed that she not provided a correct bank account number for which their fund transfer was rejected.
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