BSEC working to enhance financial literacy for investors

UNB, Dhaka :
Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam has said that the capital market regulator is working to enhance the public’s financial literacy so they can invest consciously and profitably.
To this effect, the BSEC is cooperating with the Ministry of Education and the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) to include a chapter on the capital market in the secondary and higher secondary levels textbooks.
Talking to UNB, Prof Shibli acknowledged that sometimes people are being influenced to invest their hard-earned money chasing misinformation.
“If they can become financially literate, no one can cheat them,” he said.
With a nationwide average of 24.6 per cent, the financial literacy score in Bangladesh is still quite low, according to a recent survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and BRAC Business School.
Respondents with an educational qualification below SSC, people aged over 50, self-employed people, Dhaka natives, housewives, and farmers have the lowest scores, according to the 2022 survey report.
The BSEC is working to introduce real estate investment trust, or REIT, Pink, and Orange bonds in the capital markets by 2023. Through Pink bonds, small entrepreneurs can collect money for investment while SMEs and large entrepreneurs can collect money through Orange bonds. Both coloured bonds will be introduced to encourage women investors as well as empower them in the financial sector, Prof Shibli said.
Besides, the BSEC has a special bond plan for the garment and textile sector so that entrepreneurs can collect money from the capital market to expand their business. At the same time the investors will encourage investment in this secured sector, he said.