Stocks Scheme Loan Application
M-banks, brokerages get more time
The supervision committee for the Tk 900-crore government refinance scheme for the small-scale investors affected by the 2010-11 stock market crash on Sunday extended the deadline for receiving loan applications from merchant banks and brokerage houses to December 31. The five-member committee made the second time extension at a
meeting to give the market intermediaries more time for applying for loans against their clients, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission executive director Saifur Rahman told New Age.
‘According to a report prepared by the scheme’s loan approval committee, 31 merchant banks and brokerage houses filed applications against 7,380 affected small-scale investors for loans of around Tk 219 crore,’ Saifur, also the head of the supervision committee, said.
Earlier the deadline for filing applications for loans under the scheme was extended to December 15 to give merchant banks and brokerage houses more time, a member of the supervision committee said.
The supervision committee, as per the government’s guideline, had set November 30 as the deadline [cut off date] for filing applications with the loan approval committee for loans.
The BSEC on December 1 had extended the timeframe for the first time to December 15 following appeals from merchant banks and brokerage houses.
As per the guideline, merchant banks and brokerage houses have to apply for loans against the affected small-scale investors under their organisations.
On November 27, merchant banks and brokerage houses at a meeting with the BSEC had requested the commission to take steps to obtain a directive from
the National Board of Revenue allowing the amount of loans waived for the affected small-scale investors as allowable expenses.
The stock market intermediaries had also requested to waive some conditions out of the 18 conditions set by the government to apply for the loans.
According to a BSEC report sent to the finance ministry in April this year, only 7,413 small-scale investors out of the 9,53,849 affected by the 2010-2011 stock market crash got interest waiver under the government-announced compensation package.
The Bangladesh Bank on August 26 released Tk 300 crore as the first phase of the Tk 900-crore refinance scheme.
-With New Age input
