Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The election for the post of two shareholder-director of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) will be held on Tuesday as two directors will retire this year in line with the demutualisation scheme.
The election will begin from 10:30am to 4:00pm without any break at the ground floor of DSE building in Motijheel, the capital of Bangladesh.
This year, 245 DSE voters are eligible to cast their ballots.
Four candidates – Md Hanif Bhuiyan, managing director of Rapid Securities; Md Mizanur Rahman Khan, managing director of Dhanmondi Securities; Khwaja Asif Ahmed, managing director of Country Stock (Bangladesh); and Sharif Ataur Rahman, managing director of SAR Securities – are contesting for the post of the two directorship posts.
The election is holding as Mohammad Shahjahan, managing director of Jahan Securities; and Khwaja Ghulam Rasul, managing director of Khwaja Equity Services; are set to retire from the DSE board.
The three-member DSE election commission headed by former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Md Abdus Samad declared the election schedule recently.
Two other members of the commission are: shareholder representatives Monzur Uddin Ahmed and Harunur Rashid.
Although the result of the election will be published on Tuesday, it will officially declared at the bourse’s 55th annual general meeting (AGM), scheduled to be held on March 23 where the newly elected directors will formally join the 13-member board.
The demutualised DSE board consists of seven independent directors, four shareholder directors, one from the strategic investors’ category and the bourse’s chief executive officer, who have voting rights only for election of the chairman.
However, a director post from strategic investors’ category remains vacant as the bourse is yet to find strategic investors.
The demutualisation scheme was approved by Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission in 2013.
In 2012, a law on demutualisation was passed in parliament with a promise to bring transparency to the stock
markets.
Demutualisation is a way of separating management of the bourses from ownership.
It transforms a stock exchange into a profit-oriented company, owned by shareholders and ensures alternative business models and operational efficiency.
Prior to demutualisation, Bangladesh’s stock exchanges were non-profit cooperative organisations, owned by the exchange members who are usually stockbrokers.
BBN/MS/ANS