"You may have enough funds and you are not interested to raise fund from the capital market. But I urge you to share your gains with the people of this country as part of your corporate social responsibility that is also an important aspect," said Mirza Azizul Islam, the SEC chairman.

The commission will try to make the procedure as simple as possible in case any of the foreign companies operating here is interested in coming to the stock market, he assured while speaking at the monthly luncheon meeting of FICCI at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

President of Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Mahbub Jamil and its Vice-president Andrew Fawthrop also spoke at the function.

The SEC is trying to increase quality and variety of shares in the market and will also encourage good companies in offloading shares with premium if there is any basis, Islam said adding that foreign investors here can consider issuing asset-backed securitised bonds.

Considerable improvement in technological infrastructure, the overall macro economic situation and the government's interest rate policy have helped in creating renewed interest in the stock market, the chairman noted.

Stressing the need for disclosing financial statements properly, he added that the commission is also trying to persuade the Institute of Chartered Accounts of Bangladesh (ICAB) to take action against the auditors who are not doing their jobs properly.

Islam said the commission is trying its best to bring about transparency in the market. "We are trying to make sure that proposals for public offer are properly scrutinised before the regulator's approval."

Referring to some steps taken by the SEC recently, Islam added that the commission has started closely monitoring the holding of annual general meeting of listed companies. "And we have got good results of it as the number of defaulting companies in this regard has reduced."

The 1996 boom in the capital market completely eroded the investors' confidence, he said and observed that the market has regained its vibrancy in the recent times but too much volatility in the market is not desired.

Speaking in the meeting, Mahbub Jamil, FICCI president, said a vibrant and well-regulated stock market is the sine quo non for the overall growth and development of the national economy since the country has been pursuing a free market economic policy.

A volatile stock market, as has been seen recently, erodes investors' confidence and scares the common investors away and paves the way for unscrupulous market players to reign supreme in the bourses by resorting to clandestine and unethical practices.

"We are happy that the SEC took a bold stand on not to succumb to the undue pressures of some market players and as a result the market bounced back quickly," he added.