The election for the post of a shareholder-director of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) started at 10:30am on Tuesday as a director set to retire this year.
The election will be continued till 4:00pm without any break at the ground floor of the stock exchange building at Motijheel. Some 256 DSE voters are expected to cast their votes.
This year, Md Shakil Rizvi, managing director of Shakil Rizvi Stock Limited, will retire from the DSE board in line with the demutualisation scheme.
Two candidates -- Ahmed Iqbal Hasan, the former president of the DSE and chief executive officer of Ahmed Iqbal Hasan Securities Ltd, and Minhaz Mannan Emon, former director of the premier bourse and managing director of BLI Securities -- will contest for the post.
A three-member election commission, headed by retired Judge of the Supreme Court Md Abdus Samad, declared the DSE election schedule on February 5.
The newly elected director will join the 13-member board at the bourse's annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled to be held on March 22.
As per the demutualisation scheme, out of the 13-member board of the bourse, seven independent directors, four shareholder directors, one from strategic investors' category and the bourse's managing director.
However, the post of the strategic director still remains vacant as the bourse is yet to select anyone as its strategic investors.
The demutualisation scheme was approved by Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) in 2013. In 2012, a law on demutualisation was passed in parliament with a promise to bring transparency and accountability to the stock market.
Demutualisation is a way of separating the management of the bourses from ownership.
It transforms a stock exchange into a profit-oriented company owned by shareholders and ensures alternative business models and operational efficiency.
Prior to demutualisation, Bangladesh's stock exchanges were non-profit cooperative organisations, owned by the exchange members who are usually stockbrokers.
