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He said the aim is to restore investor confidence, attract quality companies to the stock market and transform Bangladesh from a retail-driven frontier market into a transparent, institution-led emerging market.

He added that the commission seeks to build a credible and transparent capital market capable of mobilising long-term domestic and international capital.

Khan acknowledged that Bangladesh’s capital market has not kept pace with economic growth, saying investor confidence has weakened due to governance failures, limited participation of quality companies and declining foreign investor interest.

He also said digitalisation will be central to reforms, with regulatory reporting, licensing, disclosures, approvals, IPO applications and other filings to be shifted to fully digital platforms in phases.

The BSEC, Dhaka Stock Exchange, Chittagong Stock Exchange and Central Depository Bangladesh Ltd will be brought under an integrated real-time monitoring system.

Special attention will initially be given to Z-category securities, where governance and disclosure risks are relatively high.

Khan further said insider trading, circular trading, wash trades, pump-and-dump schemes, front-running and other forms of market manipulation will be detected more quickly, investigated more thoroughly and penalised more effectively.

The regulator may also empower stock exchanges to take immediate action, including temporary trading suspensions, in cases involving suspected insider trading, information leakage or serious disclosure failures.