Dhaka Sunday March 12, 2009
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Wednesday approved the trust deed of the proposed EBL First Mutual Fund.
Besides, the securities regulator gave permission to four commercial banks to operate as merchant banks.
The four banks are the state-owned Sonali Bank and Agrani Bank and private sector banks, the Southeast Bank Ltd and the Standard Bank Ltd. The Janata Bank was the first state-owned bank that got merchant bank licence last month.
The paid-up capital of the Sonali Bank is Tk 9.0 billion, the Agrani Bank Tk 2.48 billion, the Southeast Bank Tk 2.85 billion and the Standard Bank Tk 2.20 billion.
With the latest entry of four commercial banks, the number of merchant banks in the country now stands at 30.
"The commission expects that the commercial banks with their huge paid-up capital will play a pivotal role in increasing fund flow to the stock market," said Farhad Ahmed, SEC executive director, after the commission meeting.
"With the new AMC, we hope the number of mutual funds will increase, which will help bring depth in the market," Farhad said.
The commission also approved trust deed of EBL First Mutual Fund. The state-owned Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) will act as custodian and trustee for the forthcoming mutual fund. |
