IPO applications
Various problems are being faced by individual or small investors in obtaining or getting information about refunds to unsuccessful IPO applications, viz.
Applications by Resident Bangladeshis (RBs) are relatively simple. Money is paid by cash or cheque to designated banks which issue a provisional receipt. After the lottery, refunds/allotments to applicants are distributed on a designated day by the organisation against the bank receipt.
Unclaimed refunds/ allotments are then sent by courier to the designated addresses and delivered against the bank receipt. This usually works fine.
Recently, some refunds are being deposited directly to the bank accounts named in the IPO application form, which is even more efficient as it saves the applicant a long, tiresome and expensive journey to Motijheel or the Company office usually located there.
PROBLEM:a) Refunds/ allotments sent by couriers are delivered at all times of the day, when the proper person may not be at home or has access to the Bank receipt. b) Sometimes direct refunds to banks are delayed and it is also difficult to get information from some banks as to how much has been credited and from whom. Some banks even charge for this service. c) If not delivered by courier, allotment/refund letters remain with the respective offices till collected. So if the bank is not cooperative, one never knows the position of refund/ allotment until the applicant goes to the company office to collect them.
Applications in foreign exchange by Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) are more cumbersome and complex. First the exchange rate has to be found, foreign exchange draft made out and the applications with passport copies sent by courier to the Company Head Office that may be in another city. The company is supposed to issue a money receipt but it never does so. I have never received a single money receipt against the NRB applications I have made over the years.
PROBLEM: a) Applicant does not know if the application was received in time or not for at least 5-6 weeks, because there is no acknowledgement by the company. b) If the NRB refunds/allotment are not collected on the designated day, the real problem arises. The Company sends these by courier and are to be delivered only against “bank receipts” but most investors only have a courier receipt, as the relative money receipt is never issued. Why then does the company instruct the couriers to deliver the refund/allotments against money receipts (or bank receipts as the couriers call it), when they know that these have not been sent to the applicants? c) Even when FC drafts are received as refund and deposited in respective banks, the proceeds take a long time to be credited. Would it not be more efficient to refund on-line to respective F/C bank accounts, just like RB, and inform the applicants?
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