CSE board gets chairman

The Chittagong Stock Exchange has selected Muhammad Abdul Mazid, a former chairman of National Board of Revenue, as the bourse's chairman for the newly formed board in line with the demutualisation scheme.
Mazid was named as chief of the board of the demutua-lised bourse after an annual general meeting on Saturday, CSE said in a statement.
On February 13, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission approved Mazid and six others as independent directors of CSE. The appointment of independent directors and selecting one as chairman from among them is mandatory as per the demutualisation scheme, approved by the regulator in September last year.
 “A major objective of demutualisation is to bring transparency and accountability in operations so that confidence on the market increases and persists,” Mazid said.
Checking manipulation and protecting retail investors' interest are also the objectives of the demutualisation of the stock exchanges, he said.
“The challenge will be to build confidence and make the bourse more transparent, accountable and profitable.”
As per the demutualisation scheme, a 13-member board, including the seven independent directors, has been formed on Saturday for the demutualised stock exchanges.
The remaining six includes four directors from the bourse's shareholders, one from the strategic investors' category and the bourse's chief executive officer, who would have voting rights.
Demutualisation is a way of separating management of the bourses from ownership. It transforms a stock exchange into a profit oriented company owned by shareholders and ensures alternative business models and operational efficiency.
A law on demutualisation was passed in parliament on April 29 last year. Bangladesh's stock exchanges were non-profit cooperative organisations owned by the exchange members, who are usually stockbrokers.