DSE ready to host trading of non-listed securities
All types of investors will be able to participate in trading on the Alternative Trading Board
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has completed all the technical preparations to launch the Alternative Trading Board (ATB) where eligible non-listed securities can be traded.
The premier bourse of the country also said, in a press statement on Wednesday, that all types of investors will be able to participate in trading on the ATB.
Trading and settlement will be similar to the processes followed for the securities on its mainboard.
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The DSE also announced, "To be on the ATB, securities must be in dematerialised form." That means electronic units of ATB scrips must be within the central depository system managed by Central Depository Bangladesh Ltd.
Non-listed companies that want to get onto the ATB will have to prove their ability to comply with the Companies Act of the land, and the international standards for accounting and financial reporting.
Privately placed Sukuk and bonds will be eligible to be traded on the ATB.
The securities may include both common and preference shares of: non-listed companies, non-listed bonds, debentures, open-end mutual funds, and units of various alternative investment funds.
Shares delisted from the stock exchanges and over-the-counter market stocks, too, can be bought and sold on the Alternative Trading Board.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has already accorded consent to 14 bonds to be traded on the ATB, according to DSE.
The BSEC approved the Alternative Trading Board Rules 2019 at the end of 2019.
There are many securities outside stock exchanges and these also need to be transacted among investors.
Investors are buying and selling them in private arenas, which mostly lack a convenient price discovery mechanism and both buyers and sellers suffer for the lack of liquidity.
Liquidity is the convenience for the owners of any asset that they will find sufficient buyers if they plan to divest. Buyers look for competition among sellers.
The DSE, the oldest bourse of the country, said on Wednesday, it is also ready to launch its SME board, a dedicated trading platform for smaller companies with the potential to grow big.
Recently, a dozen of Bangladeshi start-ups met with the securities regulator to discuss their way to the SME platform of the local stock market.
