The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission is moving to streamline its decision-making process to speed up investigations into abnormal trading and price movements in the stock market, said BSEC Chairman Masud Khan on Tuesday.
He disclosed the development while speaking as chief guest at a seminar marking World Investor Week 2026 jointly organized by the Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies and the Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh auditorium in Dhaka.
Masud Khan said that regulatory units will no longer need prior approval from a commission meeting to launch investigations after detecting unusual market activity. The move is intended to make market surveillance faster, more effective, and more responsive.
He also said that reducing procedural layers would help the regulator act more quickly, and BSEC plans to establish a technology-driven surveillance system as the number of listed companies expands.
The commission is also working to standardize brokerage firms’ back-office software, with the aim of improving data integration and strengthening regulatory monitoring.
Dhaka Stock Exchange Chairman Mominul Islam has called for stricter surveillance and tighter trading controls on small-cap companies and stocks with weak fundamentals to protect investors from manipulation and abnormal price movements.
Mominul said the large number of small-cap and fundamentally weak companies, coupled with the dominance of retail investors, increases market risks.
He proposed placing such stocks in separate categories and applying stricter trading measures to provide investors with early warnings about unusual price movements.
He also stressed the need for more registered financial analysts to encourage data-driven investment decisions and reduce the scope for market manipulators to mislead investors.
Mominul called for more fundamentally strong companies to be listed on the market, saying quality listings would attract institutional investors and improve market diversity.
He also warned of rising digital investment fraud, with scammers allegedly misusing the BSEC logo and posing as authorized financial advisers while promising unrealistic returns.
He called for broader digital surveillance and greater use of artificial intelligence to detect manipulation and fraud.
Strengthening brokerage houses, portfolio managers, and mutual fund companies, he added, would also be crucial to building a stable, transparent, and resilient capital market.
Financial Mirror/AH
