BSEC panels to inspect three companies 

The stock market regulator has set up three committees to inspect two brokerage firms and an asset management company as routine work to ensure the protection of investors' funds.

In separate letters on Tuesday, the regulator asked Rapid Securities, Moshihor Securities and BMSL Asset Management Company to provide the inspectors with all kinds of documents they seek.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has instructed the inspection panels to submit their reports within the next 30 days.

A senior BSEC official, seeking anonymity, said a few brokerage firms embezzled the investors' money in the last couple of years, which severely affected the share market's reputation.

To protect the investors' money, the securities regulator has decided to carry out inspections in the brokerage firms, merchant banks and asset management companies on a regular basis.

But, due to a lack of a sufficient number of employees at the commission, they will not inspect all firms at a time, the official added.

In January this year, Tamha Securities embezzled over Tk140 crore of investors' money as per the clients' allegation. The regulator also conducted an enquiry into the firm and found a deficit of around Tk87 crore in its consolidated customer account dedicated to dealing with its clients' funds. The BSEC took action against the firm immediately, but the investors could not recover their investments.

Last year, Banco Securities and Crest Securities committed similar offences.

There are 250 brokerage firms in the DSE and 148 in the Chittagong Stock Exchange providing brokerage services to customers.

In the last one year, the market regulator issued 58 brokerage licences for the DSE and 23 for the CSE.

Besides, 66 merchant banks are working as investment banks and 52 asset management companies are operating public funds in the share market.