Woes of IPO investors
While appreciating the various improvements initiated by SEC and DSE to lessen the difficulties of general investors, (the small, aged and women investors), I would draw the attention of the controlling authorities to some anomalies that remain, especially those relating to the refund process.
Refunds to RB (Resident Bangladeshis) is being gradually streamlined. A) it is routed through respective bank accounts (most convenient, even though there is a cost involved), or B) refund vouchers can be collected for a 5-day period from a place, usually in Motijheel against the bank receipt or C) sent to applicants through courier. The last is where the problem arises as will be seen later.
NRB refund is more complex. NRB applications are either handed over at a place (again in Motijheel) and receipt obtained or the application with foreign exchange payment sent by courier to the Company. The Company is bound to send the money receipt by courier after encashment of Forex payment, but to date I have never received even one, as they sit on it. For those applicants who apply through courier, it is doubly inconvenient and strenuous for old people like me (I am 78). First I have to obtain the money receipt and then travel to Motijheel to get refund. If the company HO is in Uttara, my woes are compounded. WHAT PREVENTS NRB REFUNDS BEING SENT TO THE BANK MENTIONED IN THE APPLICATION?
Here I must mention the role of the couriers. It seems 3rd class couriers have mushroomed and captured the market for IPO refunds (Is it with the connivance of the concerned companies?), because none of these 3rd rate couriers have ever come with refund vouchers. Moreover, the company has directed them not to deliver the NRB refunds without the concerned money receipt, which they themselves have retained!!!! Is this FAIR OR JUST? These couriers can generally be found in dingy tenements in crowded alleys with just a staff member in lungi holding on to lakhs of taka of vouchers. A week or two later they return it with a note “Not found” or “Receipt not available” etc. Nice going, because the longer it takes to refund, the more the interest accrues in the company's bank account from the application money!
Will the SEC and DSE look into these aspects soon and provide remedies?
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