Dhaka Stock Exchange To Launch Single Digital Platform For Open-Ended Mutual Funds By Mid-November

Dhaka, September 24, 2026 — The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) is set to launch a dedicated digital platform within two months to allow investors to directly buy, sell and redeem units of open-ended mutual funds. The move addresses a long-standing structural inefficiency in Bangladesh's capital market — the requirement for investors to physically visit the offices of fund managers to transact in open-ended funds.

💻 DSE Managing Director Nuzhat Anwar said the platform is expected to go live by mid-November 2026. “The development of this platform is an important step towards making investment in mutual funds easier, more convenient, transparent and technology-driven, expected to go live by mid-November,” she said.

💼 The Problem The Platform Solves

Currently, investors are required to visit the offices of fund managers in person to purchase or redeem units of open-ended mutual funds. The proposed system aims to ease the investment mechanism by bringing the order-management process under a technology-driven platform.

This in-person requirement has long been a structural barrier to retail participation in mutual funds — particularly for investors outside Dhaka and Chattogram, where most asset management companies have their offices. The new digital platform will allow investors to:

• 💻 See each fund's performance online.
• 💻 Place orders through their respective stockbrokers.
• 💻 Compare performance of different funds in one place.
• 💻 Receive units in their beneficiary owner's (BO) accounts after purchase.
• 💻 Submit redemption requests through the same platform.

Currently, asset managers generally publish performance data on their respective platforms on a weekly basis. Investors therefore have to visit multiple platforms to collect information about different funds, making it cumbersome to compare performance and investment opportunities.

📊 Bangladesh's Mutual Fund Market

Bangladesh's mutual fund industry currently comprises:

• 💰 106 open-ended mutual funds — with assets under management (AUM) of approximately Tk 58 billion as of August 2026.
• 💰 34 closed-end mutual funds listed on the Dhaka bourse — with AUM of approximately Tk 43 billion.
• 💰 Combined AUM: approximately Tk 101 billion across open-ended and closed-end funds.

For context, Bangladesh's mutual fund industry represents approximately 0.3 per cent of GDP — well below the regional average. India's mutual fund industry represents approximately 15 per cent of GDP, while Pakistan's is around 2-3 per cent.

🧮 How The Platform Will Work

Unlike listed securities, open-ended mutual fund units will not be traded through continuous order matching on the stock exchanges. Instead:

• 🔹 Investors will select any fund and submit a subscription order through a participating stockbroker.
• 🔹 The stockbroker will act as a selling or dealing agent of the respective asset manager.
• 🔹 The broker will help execute purchase requests through the DSE platform.
• 🔹 Once the purchase process is complete, investors will receive the corresponding mutual fund units in their beneficiary owner's (BO) accounts.
• 🔹 Units will be issued at the applicable net asset value (NAV), upon adjusting any charges as per the relevant fund rules.

The same platform will allow investors to submit redemption requests for units they already hold. A redemption order will be processed through the relevant stockbroker and the asset manager. Units will be redeemed at the applicable price determined by the asset manager, subject to the fund's rules and procedures.

📋 No Intraday Trading For Open-Ended Funds

⚠ Investors should not expect intraday price movements or continuous trading in open-ended fund units similar to listed equities. Instead, the subscription or redemption prices will be determined in line with the valuation and pricing mechanism prescribed by the regulator and followed by the respective fund manager.

Therefore, the proposed system will differ fundamentally from the DSE's regular share-trading platform:

• 📈 Share trading: buyers and sellers submit orders that are matched through the exchange's trading mechanism, with market prices changing according to supply and demand.
• 📈 Open-ended fund platform: primarily serves as an integrated digital order-collection and processing channel for intended transactions.

🏢 Industry Reaction

Welcoming the DSE move, Mir Ariful Islam, managing director and CEO of Sandhani Asset Management, said the dedicated platform was expected to strengthen the distribution network of mutual funds and broaden their reach to investors.

💬 “Investors, especially retailers, are expected to prefer mutual funds managed by professional asset managers,” he said.

The reaction from industry reflects long-standing frustration with the current distribution model. Asset management companies have argued for years that the in-person transaction requirement has artificially constrained the growth of the open-ended fund market — particularly among retail investors who prefer the convenience of digital trading.

💼 Why This Matters For Bangladesh's Capital Market

The platform launch is significant for several reasons:

• 💼 Deepening capital market participation — Bangladesh's market capitalisation to GDP ratio is approximately 12-15 per cent, compared to over 80 per cent in India and over 50 per cent in Vietnam.
• 💼 Increasing retail investor access — the digital platform will particularly benefit investors outside Dhaka, who currently face significant transaction costs to invest in open-ended funds.
• 💼 Improving transparency — the integrated platform will make fund performance data more accessible and comparable across funds.
• 💼 Modernising capital market infrastructure — the platform aligns Bangladesh with global best practices in mutual fund distribution.
• 💼 Encouraging professional asset management — the platform makes it easier for retail investors to access professionally managed funds, rather than relying on direct stock picks.

🏛 Wider Context: DSE Modernisation Programme

The open-ended fund platform is part of a broader DSE modernisation programme that includes:

• 🏢 DSE targets 10 blue-chip listings by 2027 — the exchange is actively pursuing new initial public offerings to broaden the investable universe.
• 🏢 Brokerage scam victim compensation — Tk 72 crore to be distributed to 17,332 investors starting 28 September 2026.
• 🏢 Digital platform for open-ended mutual funds — expected mid-November 2026.
• 🏢 Demutualisation follow-through — the DSE has been implementing its demutualisation roadmap since 2013.

These initiatives are aimed at deepening Bangladesh's capital market, which remains one of the shallowest in Asia relative to the size of the economy.

🌏 International Comparisons

The integrated digital platform model for mutual fund distribution is well-established internationally:

• 🇺🇸 United States — mutual fund platforms like Vanguard, Fidelity and Schwab allow investors to buy and redeem fund units online.
• 🇮🇳 India — platforms like Zerodha Coin, Groww and Paytm Money have democratised mutual fund investing for retail investors.
• 🇹🇭 Thailand — the Thai Bond Market Association operates a similar digital platform for fixed-income funds.
• 🇵🇭 Philippines — the PSE has launched its own mutual fund trading platform in recent years.

Bangladesh's adoption of this model is overdue but welcome — and could mark a turning point for the country's retail investment landscape.

💼 Outlook

The success of the new platform will depend on several factors:

• ✅ Broker adoption — how quickly stockbrokers integrate the platform into their existing trading systems.
• ✅ Investor awareness — whether retail investors can be educated about the benefits of mutual fund investing.
• ✅ Fund performance — whether the underlying funds deliver competitive returns that attract investor interest.
• ✅ Regulatory clarity — whether BSEC provides clear rules on pricing, NAV calculation and redemption processing.

If successful, the platform could help Bangladesh's mutual fund industry grow significantly from its current Tk 101 billion AUM base — providing an important new channel for household savings to flow into productive investment.

The DSE's mid-November launch target gives the exchange approximately six weeks to finalise the technical integration with brokers, asset managers and the central depository system. Industry observers will be watching closely to see whether the launch timeline holds.