The government on Sunday appointed the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh chairman M Khairul Hossain as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, withdrawing Ziaul Haque Khondker.
Khairul Hossain, who was also a professor of finance at Dhaka University, joined SEC on Sunday after securing release orders from Dhaka University and ICB.
A Banking Division order said professor Khairul was appointed as SEC chairman for three years with a condition that he would cut working relations with all other organisations and institutions.
The appointment of Khairul followed finance minister AMA Muhith’s announcement on Thursday that the government would soon appoint a new chairman of SEC to stabilise the volatile capital market.
Ziaul Haque Khondker, against whom the probe committee on January’s stock market debacle recommended action, was withdrawn and he was attached to the public administration ministry for any fresh posting.
Khondker, also a former MD of ICB, who was made chief of the capital market watchdog on May 3, 2009, had one year left to complete the tenure of his contract.
Sources in the Banking Division said prime minister Sheikh Hasina approved the appointment of Khairul before she left Dhaka for Geneva on Sunday.
After joining SEC, Khairul told reporters, ‘Restoring the confidence among the investors will be my priority for the moment to improve the situation of the capital market.’
He said SEC would be transformed into a transparent and accountable organisation by amending the existing rules and regulations. ‘The capital market will be transformed in such a way that it can play a key role in strengthening the economy of the country.’
‘For doing that we need to ensure transparency in the commission and come up with effective policy measures,’ he said.
Before taking over his new assignment, Khairul told New Age at his ICB office, ‘I have taken up the SEC chair as a challenge and will try to perform my duty with honesty and integrity. I was a teacher and I want to keep my head high.’
He said that as a chairman he would like to ensure free flow of information from the SEC.
‘All the stakeholders including the media need to think positive and act accordingly to bring a substantial change in the market.’
‘I would like to ensure free flow of information as restriction could encourage misleading information,’ he said.
Khairul took over the helms of the regulating body that had earned huge flak due to its failure to oversee the stock market.
After publishing the probe committee report on April 30, Muhith had announced that a number of steps would be taken within a couple of days, including appointment of a new chairman.
However, there had been no development regarding appointing a new chairman of the SEC. But the Banking Division had been continuously forcing the top SEC members to resign, though were no allegations against them in the probe report.
Two SEC members, Md Anisuzzaman and Yasin Ali, who were not named in the probe report, were forced to resign last week.
Chittagong University teacher Helaluddin Nizami was appointed as SEC member before the resignation of Anisuzzaman.
Shafiqur Rahman Patwari, secretary of the Banking Division of the finance ministry, earlier said that two more members would be appointed to SEC.
Courtesy of New Age
