New Trading Software
DSE asked to halt purchase until end of demutualisation
The capital market regulator has asked Dhaka Stock Exchange not to make a deal for purchasing new trading software of the bourse during the ‘interim period of demutualisation’.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission’s move came when the DSE recently took an initiative to get a new trading system. A BSEC senior officer told New Age, ‘We have already conveyed the massage of the BSEC to the chief executive officer of the DSE asking them not to make any decision to perchance any trading system to scrap the existing online-based trading system.’
‘We found several irregularities while the online-based trading software MSA Plus was installed. So, we would not allow them to do the same in the future,’ he said.
‘We hope that the purchase process of a new trading system will be fare if the new demutualised board does it,’ the BSEC officer said.
The BSEC in July 2013 issued a directive putting bar on the stock exchanges from trading any fixed assets until the completion of demutualisation of the bourses.
According to the directive, the stock exchanges are not permitted to purchase, sell or transfer any fixed assets of the DSE and the CSE before completion of demutualisation process.
In case of any emergency, prior approval of the commission will be needed for such activities, the directive said.
The BSEC then took the initiative following an allegation of irregularities in distributing the DSE’s newly-built 13-storey building at Nikunja in the capital.
There was another allegation that the one member of a bourse had started the process to sell-out his membership to be the chairman of the bourse after the demutualisation to take control over the stock exchange.
The DSE in June 2013 introduced the online-based trading system MSA Plus. Xchanging, a UK-based software vendor, provided the software at a cost of around $6 lakh.
The trading software, however, failed to cheer the investors as its operational flaws delayed
trading for one hour on two separate occasions when new companies made their debut on the bourse late last year.
The software also failed to execute buy and sell orders on several occasions.
Following the incidents, the BSEC launched an investigation and found that the glitches resulted from negligence by the software vendor as well as the DSE.
The DSE last year took an initiative to replace its old trading system and the same time the bourse set this month to make a deal with
the competitive vendors after completion of a negotiation regarding the pricing.
NASDAQ of the United States has already submitted a technical requirement study of the DSE for its next 10 years’ need of technical support at a cost of $0.18 million excluding travel allowance.
-With New Age input
