BSEC allows Banco finance to resume share trading
On June 14, the DSE suspended trading operations of Banco Securities, which is under common ownership of Banco Finance and Investment over allegations of embezzling Tk66.59 crore from the consolidated customer accounts.
The stock market regulator has asked the Dhaka Stock Exchange to open the previously frozen consolidated customer bank account of Banco Finance and Investment Limited.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission issued a letter to the DSE in this regard despite the fact that Banco Securities, which has a common director with Banco Finance, did not pay customers' money yet.
BSEC's market surveillance and intelligence department additional director Mohammad Delowar Hossain signed the letter, bypassing the Supervision & Regulation of Intermediaries department, which was supposed to make the decision.
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Market insiders said the general investors of Banco Finance and Investment Limited will suffer for this decision.
The management may withdraw funds from the consolidated customers' account of the company, which will be harmful for the general investors.
On June 14, the DSE suspended trading operations of Banco Securities, which is under common ownership of Banco Finance and Investment over allegations of embezzling Tk66.59 crore from the consolidated customer accounts.
The regulator also asked the bourse through the letter to allow Banco Finance to trade shares on behalf of customers of the merchant bank, the letter said.
The DSE was also ordered to monitor the transactions with the broker and the clients along with the transaction profile of the said bank account.
Although Banco Securities did not pay any amount of the Tk66.59 crore, the BSEC's decision to lift the freeze order raised questions.
On June 30, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit passed an order to freeze the bank accounts of Banco Finance and Investment Limited upon a DSE request in connection with the alleged fund embezzlement.
On July 14, the BSEC ran an inquiry into the affairs of Banco Finance on suspicion of anomalies in the merchant bank.
A full-fledged merchant bank gets registration from the BSEC to act as issue manager, portfolio manager and corporate adviser dealing with large amounts of investors' money.
