A coordination meeting between the Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies (BAPLC) and the Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association (BMBA) was recently held at the BAPLC office in Gulshan-2, Dhaka. Members of the Executive Committees of both organizations attended the meeting. The session was presided over by BAPLC President Mr. Riad Mahmud.
The meeting provided a constructive platform for in-depth discussions on key challenges currently affecting the capital market. Special emphasis was placed on the ongoing IPO drought and the need to identify effective pathways to facilitate the introduction of new Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the market. Participants also exchanged views on several structural bottlenecks impeding the IPO process, the heavy reliance on bank financing for long-term capital requirements, and the implications of certain provisions under BSEC Corporate Governance Code as well as the Public Offer of Equity Securities Rules.
The discussions further underscored the importance of establishing a more enabling regulatory and policy framework to encourage quality issuers to access the capital market, thereby promoting sustainable market development and deepening of the equity market.
Both BAPLC and BMBA reached a consensus to jointly address the existing impediments to IPO issuance and agreed to work collaboratively and to engage with the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) to identify practical solutions and support necessary reforms aimed at revitalizing the IPO pipeline and strengthening the overall capital market ecosystem.
