Bond market goes online

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman speaks at the launch of Trader Work Station, an online trading platform for government treasury bonds and bills. Photo: BB

The central bank yesterday launched an online trading platform for government treasury bonds and bills for the development of the country's secondary market.
"Now all investors will be able to take part in the buying and selling of government securities at ease," Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said at the launch ceremony at his office in Dhaka.
The platform -- Trader Work Station -- meets a long-pending demand as the existing secondary bond market, especially for government treasury bonds and bills, is still inactive, Rahman said.
Bankers welcomed the initiative as the country lags far behind the advanced and regional countries, where the secondary bond market is vibrant.
“We appreciate the introduction of the platform,” Anis A Khan, managing director of Mutual Trust Bank, said in an earlier phone interview.
The secondary bond market, however, may not be lucrative for investors at present due to the state of the economy, according to Khan.
“But it will pay-off in the long run."
The market value of all treasury bills and bonds, yield, amount, date of issuance and date of expiry would be shown on the ticker screen of the web interface.
Any buyer or seller can place orders on the platform through his/her bank for buying or selling all government treasury bills on the price or yield shown on the ticker screen, said the BB guideline issued last week.
The settlement would take place on the same day, further said the guideline.
The total sales of securities, highest and lowest market rates, yield and the total value of securities purchased and sold in a day would also be displayed on the ticker screen.
If necessary, the central bank will impose a circuit breaker to prevent any abnormal fall or rise in the market price.
The market watch screen of the platform has the option of monitoring all market-related data.
The members can get detailed information of each of their orders from the order book of the platform and, if necessary, cancel or change their orders, added the guideline.