Central Depository Bangladesh Limited

Central Depository Bangladesh Limited () is a Bangladesh government regulatory agency that records and facilates the trade of securities in Bangladesh. It is the National Numbering Agency for International Securities Identification Number in Bangladesh and member of the Association of National Numbering Agencies. Sheikh Kabir Hossain is chairman of the board of directors. It is Bangladesh's only securities depository enterprise.

History

Central Depository Bangladesh Limited was established on 20 August 2000. AKM Shamsuddin was the founding chairman of Central Depository Bangladesh Limited.

On 20 October 2003, Electronic Government Securities Registry went online, allowing the Central Depository Bangladesh Limited to function. Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission approved the bylaws necessary for Central Depository Bangladesh Limited to begin operations. M Habibus Samad was then managing director of Central Depository Bangladesh Limited. The transformed share transaction from paper to a digital one.

Central Depository Bangladesh Limited is an associate member of the South Asian Federation of Exchanges.

The president of Chittagong Stock Exchange, Fakhor Uddin Ali Ahmed, asked Central Depository Bangladesh Limited to reduce their fees to increase the confidence of stock market investors in September 2011.

Bangladesh Bank ordered the Central Depository Bangladesh Limited to examine accounts held by depository participants in November 2014. To participate in the stock market and apply for primary stocks one needs a beneficiary owner through a depository participant.

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the Central Depository Bangladesh Limited to reduce the fees charged by them in 2016. National Board of Revenue ordered Central Depository Bangladesh Limited to investigate Debapriya Bhattacharya and his wife, Irina Bhattacharya, all their assets in the stock market. A. K. M. Nurul Fazal Bulbul, co-founder of Sunlife Insurance Company Limited and EXIM Bank Limited, was elected chairman of Central Depository Bangladesh Limited in 2016.

On 4 February 2018, Shuvra Kanti Choudhury was appointed managing director of Central Depository Bangladesh. The company announced plans to begin web operations with software bought from Tata Consultancy Services. Samson H Chowdhury was a former chairman of Central Depository Bangladesh Limited.

Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit ordered Central Depository Bangladesh Limited to investigate the directors of Peoples Leasing and Financial Services.

In 2021, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Central Depository Bangladesh Limited to halt trading of all shares of Fareast Islami Life Insurance Company Limited whose directors were suspected of embezzling money from policy holders.

In February 2022, investors blamed Central Depository Bangladesh Limited and Dhaka Stock Exchange for securities fraud committed by Tamha Securities. Tamha Securities, Banco Securities, and Crest Securities were three companies that stopped operations due to fraud. The ICT Division identified Central Depository Bangladesh Limited as a critical information infrastructure under the Digital Security Act and protected by the Digital Security Agency and National Data Center.

Board of directors

References

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2000 establishments in Bangladesh
Organisations based in Dhaka
Government agencies of Bangladesh
Government-owned companies of Bangladesh