Staff Correspondent

The Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday asked 24 depositary participants (DP) to submit the annual Tk 300 fee required against each beneficiary owner (BO) account by May 29.

Depositary participants include securities brokers and dealers, underwriters, banks, trust companies and clearing corporations who act as agents of the depositary.

Speaking at his office, SEC executive director Farhad Ahmad told reporters that fees worth Tk 2.55 crore are still pending on 3.44 lakh BO accounts related to the 24 DPs.

"The DPs are declaring the BO accounts active, but they have not submitted their Tk 300 annual fees, which the SEC introduced last September," Ahmad said. The market regulator has set May 29 as the final date for submitting the fees.

The DPs concerned include Shaymol Securities, Arafat Securities, SNM Securities, Royal Capital, Chittagong Stock Exchange, Anwar Securities, Chowdhury Securities, RR Securities, Haji Ahmed Brothers, Saad Securities, Trustee Associates, Anchor Securities, ANS Management, ARC Securities, South Asia Securities, Standard Bank, Bali Securities and Eastern Share & Securities. Meanwhile, the SEC fined Dr Ashraf Salehin, the owner of Capital Bangladesh, Tk 3 lakh for contravening securities laws and attempting to provide capital market services without approval from the regulator.

The SEC executive director said an advertisement placed by Capital Bangladesh in an English-language newspaper on Dec 10, 2006, contravened securities laws.

"The advertisement claimed the company dealt mainly with pharmaceuticals and chemical issues in the stock exchanges of New York, London, Singapore and Mumbai in addition to Dhaka," said Ahmad.

"It asked for investors on an equal profit sharing basis," he said. However, according to securities laws, a company cannot offer an investor profit sharing in return for capital market services. "A commission or fees may be charged, but there is no option for profit sharing," said the SEC official.

Capital Bangladesh is also charged with operating capital market services without any prior approval from the SEC. "Any company wishing to provide capital market services in Bangladesh has to obtain a licence from the market regulator," said Ahmad.

The SEC executive director added that Dr Ashraf had failed to appear before three commission hearings to date.