DSE Managing Director Sanaul Hoq resigns

Kazi Sanaul Hoq, managing director of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), has resigned in the tenth month of his 36-month tenure to lead the premier bourse's management.

According to DSE officials, Sanaul submitted his resignation on 8 October, and the board of directors accepted it on Wednesday.

"Our managing director cited personal grounds in his resignation, and we had to accept it as we knew the grounds personally," said Md Eunusur Rahman, chairman of the DSE board of directors.

Rakibur Rahman, a member of the DSE board, told The Business Standard both Sanaul and his wife are suffering from health problems.

"The current development phase of the market is demanding that the DSE managing director works for long hours. The family members have been requesting him to leave the job," he said.

Two DSE sources told TBS that the former banker was trying to run the management professionally to some extent instead of merely obeying the instructions of the interest groups who have a large number of loyal executives within the exchange company.

The Business Standard could not reach Sanaul over the phone.

The management hiccup 

The DSE management has been experiencing hiccups due to the absence of its desired executive leadership as outlined by the Demutualisation Act, which says management and ownership of stock exchange companies should be separated and the management should run professionally. 

A large number of issues have emerged where the management, exchange owners, and some other interest groups have been confronting each other in recent years. Those include strategic partnership, welcoming new companies to the bourses, and operational ins and outs of the exchange and brokers. 

The exchange was running without a managing director for half a year before Sanaul joined in February this year. 

In mid-2019, the DSE board reappointed the then managing director KAM Majedur Rahman for another term, but the securities regulator rejected him. 

Sanaul's appointment was also a controversial one as three of the then four shareholder directors and one of the seven independent directors of the bourse opposed him. 

In the board meeting next week, the DSE is likely to make a decision on issuing an advertisement seeking a new managing director.