At present, there are 1 lakh 61 thousand 975 expatriate Beneficiary Owners (BO) account holders in the country's capital market. So far, 80,000 expatriates have applied for initial public offering (IPO). The IPO has a 10 per cent quota for expatriate investors.

The information was revealed at a virtual public hearing organized by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Monday (March 15).

Speaking on the occasion, BSEC Executive Director Mohammad Rezaul Karim said the appeal of IPO investors is being made easier. Time has also been reduced in the IPO process. The new rules set a specific quota for expatriates in IPOs.

He said expatriates still have to spend a lot to apply for an IPO. So far about 80,000 expatriates have applied. It takes about 2 months for the lottery winning expatriates to get all the information about the allotted shares or shares as BO. Work is being done to reduce this time.

BSEC Commissioner in the opening session. Sheikh Shamsuddin Ahmed said, our expatriate brothers and sisters work hard to earn money. They have created a record of remittances due to remittances. Respect for remittance fighters is much higher. We are working on how to link remittances sent by expatriates to the development of the country through the capital market.

Another commissioner, Abdul Halim, said three public hearings had been held so far. The Commission has considered the suggestions of previous hearings. This time too he will be no exception. We want to know the problems of the investors and work towards that goal.

DSE and BSEC officials including DSE Acting Managing Director (MD) Abdul Matin Patwari, DSE Brokers Association (DBA) President Sharif Anwar Hossain and DSE Senior Manager of Listing Affairs Rabiul Islam were present at the public hearing.

Sunbd/NJ