4 Feb 2010

Two companies get nod for direct listing

The two firms -- Ocean Containers Ltd and Khulna Power Ltd -- got the permission at a meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission, presided over by the commission's Chairman Ziaul Haque Khondker.

However, no more private companies will be allowed to list directly in line with the government's earlier decision.

The finance ministry at a meeting on November 5 last year decided that only state-run companies will be able to offload shares under the direct listing method.

But the companies applied for direct listing before the November 5 decision will not come within the purview, Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan, executive director of SEC, told journalists at a briefing, quoting the finance ministry's direction.

Ocean Containers and Khulna Power sought permission before November 5.

“The commission sought directions from the finance ministry about the direct listing proposals, as confusions surfaced centring the direct listing issue. The ministry later gave a clear direction and the commission is implementing it,” Bhuiyan said.

“We will now ask the Dhaka and Chittagong bourses to take necessary steps for the companies' direct listing,” he added.

Ocean Containers, an entity of Summit Group, submitted the direct listing proposal on June 23, 2009 and Khulna Power, another concern of the same group, on October 1.

Ocean Containers will offload 1.9 crore shares of Tk 10 each, while Khulna Power will offload 5.21 crore shares of Tk 10 each.

In the book building method, institutions bid for shares through which the price is discovered.

Ocean Containers and Khulna Power will be the fourth and fifth private sector companies that will be listed directly. Five state-run enterprises have so far offloaded shares in the stockmarket under direct listing rules.

The SEC at the yesterday's meeting also approved the rights issue of Mercantile Bank and rejected the rights offer of One Bank and BD Com for noncompliance with the securities rules.

Mercantile Bank will issue 1.44 crore ordinary shares of Tk 100 each totalling Tk 144 crore at a ratio of 2:3, meaning two rights shares will be offered for an existing three

31 Jan 2010

DBH rated highest 'AAA' for the 4th consecutive year

Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation Ltd., known as DBH was rated 'AAA' (Triple A), top to the rating scale for long term and ST-1 for short term for the fourth consecutive year.

Mr. Hamidul Huq, managing director of Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh (CRAB) handed over theCredit Rating Report to Mr QM Shariful Ala, managing director of DBH at a function held at the latter's corporate office in Dhaka. Senior officials of DBH and CRAB were present at the function.

CRAB's independent Rating Committee comprising financial analysts from home and abroad prepared the credit rating report on the basis of qualitative and quantitative analysis and balance sheet for the financial year 2008-09 of the company.

The CRAB rating report indicated that AAA credit rating has been given to DBH for excellent financials, healthy and sustainable franchises and a first rated operating environment.

"AAA reflects DBH's strong asset quality, capital adequacy, operating efficiency, management strength, corporate governance and market leadership," managing director of CRAB Hamidul Huq said adding "in fact, the credit rating is an indication of the relative safety, security and strength of a financial institution which is relevant to its depositors and other investors such as shareholders and lenders".

SQ Celsius to go public

SQ Celsius, a concern of SQ Group, a major high-end garment exporter, is going to list on bourses in June, its top official said yesterday.

Ghulam Faruque, chairman and managing director, told The Daily Star, “Raising an amount to the tune of Tk 150 crore from the public is now under plan.” However, the size of the IPO (initial public offering) may go higher as per the company's requirement for its massive expansion, he added.

There are three sweater units under the company.

On settlement of the pre-IPO or private placement by June, the formal share trade will debut in September.

What will be the face value of shares is yet to be decided.

As per the expansion plan, an SQ Station will be set up at Bhaluka in Mymensingh district where everything required for operating production will be available under one roof. The company has already purchased land for the project.

The SQ boss also said an asset management firm is now conducting the company's asset valuation and credit rating will be completed very soon.

SQ Celsius' present paid-up capital is more than Tk 50 crore, while the number of its workers is 7,000. The total number of workers of the entire group is 10,000.

"Moreover, we have a plan to set up an exclusive garment factory to produce underwear garment in the SQ Station as the demand for this specialised product is increasing rapidly among international buyers," Faruque said.

Sri Lanka now does extremely well in this segment of garment products, he pointed out.

SQ Group, established in 1993, with having factories at Mirpur, Bhaluka and Maona, exported apparels worth $70 million in 2009. The growth was not to an expected level because of the global recession.

The group's major buyers are Marks and Spencer, H and M, NEXT and ESPIRIT, Faruque said.

In response to a query, he pointed his finger at the difficulties in bank borrowing at high interest.

“That's why I'm going to take the money from the capital market."

At present, a total of 26 companies in the textile sector are listed with the country's premier bourse, Dhaka Stock Exchange. Of the total scrips in the sector, some under-perform due to their delayed holding of annual general meeting and lapses in awarding dividends to the shareholders for years.

30 Jan 2010

RAK Ceramics to float shares within next three weeks


RAK Ceramics, a Bangladesh-UAE joint venture, has started process under book-building method to hit the country's stock market.

It is the first company, which will make debut on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong StockExchange (CSE), using such modern pricing mechanism for initial public offering (IPO) introduced in March of last year.

As part of the process, the tiles and sanitary-ware maker held an IPO road show to woo the eligible institutional investors in a city hotel Saturday. RAK received primary approval for floating shares from the securities regulator in December.

Within next three weeks, it will begin to sell shares among the institutional investors after receiving SEC consent's on bidding. Institutional bidding will be executed by DSE and CSE.

Subscription for general investors will open 25 days from the closure of the institutional bidding.

Chairman of RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) Khater Massaad described the company's prospects and future plan to impress the institutional investors.

"We feel very proud to come in Bangladesh," said Massaad. A large number of people and growing per capita income have been creating demands for products, which mainly attracted us to invest in the growing market of Bangladesh, he said.

He said, "Meeting the local demands, the company has already begun to export products to India, Sri Lanka and Nepal and plans to enter in European market".

IDLC Finance is the lead issue manager of the RAK Ceramic IPO, while BRAC-EPL Investments Ltd is the joint issue manager.

Arif Khan, deputy managing director of IDLC Finance Ltd, presented the company's financial strength while Saiful Islam, director of BRAC-EPL, explained logic of the company's indicative price and described the bidding process.

Mr Arif also responded to the volley of questions asked by the institutional investors about the company's financial side.

DSE president Md Rakibur Rahman and local investors SAK Ekramuzzaman, who holds 10 per cent of RAK Ceramics, also spoke in the road show programme.

RAK offers 34.51 million equity shares worth Tk 10 each in face value under the book-building method. Of which, 20 per cent will be funded by eligibleinstitutional investors, 10 per cent by mutual funds, 10 per cent by non-resident Bangladeshis and 60 per cent by public.

An indicative price for each RAK share has already been built at Tk 40, including a premium of Tk 30, through bidding by seven institutions from four sectors.

According to the book building method, bidders cannot quote 20 percent more or less than the indicative price, meaning they will have to offer between Tk 32 and Tk 48 for each share. Fixing the indicative price is required to obtain regulatory approval.

As of December 31, 2009, RAK's pre-IPO paid-up capital is Tk 1.86 billion. The company's net asset value was Tk 13.69 a share and earning per share (EPS) was Tk 1.83.

Foreign entrepreneurs own 90 percent of the company, while local entrepreneurs own the rest, but local ownership will increase to 20 per cent after post-IPO.

RAK started commercial operation in Bangladesh in late 2000. Presently, the company has the market shares over one-fourth of tiles and more than three-fourth of sanitary ware products.

Book Building is a method through which companies determine the values of their IPOs based on the bidding prices from the eligible institutional investors. The SEC introduced the method in March aiming to encourage private-sector entrepreneurs to list their large and profitable companies with bourses at fair prices.

It is the process by which a price will be determined by institutional investorson the basis of an indicative price offered by the issuer company.

Using the method, the issuer company will first ask for share prices from theinstitutional investors by organising road shows, projection meeting and seminar on the company.

Then the company in association with its issue manager will fix an indicative price, which will have to be based on offering prices by at least five institutions in three categories, and send it to the securities regulator andstock exchanges.

Based on the indicative price, the institutions will bid for shares.

However, the bidders could not quote 20 percent more or less from the indicative price. Then a weighted average price will be fixed based on the higher and lower prices and shares will be allotted for institutions at the weighted average price.

The lowest will be considered as cut-off price for public offerings or general investors.

The institutions will not be allowed to sell shares in the first 15 trading days under the book building's lock-in system

13 Jan 2010

Over 2 dozen SoEs set to hit stock market: Muhith

The government is going to offload shares of 26 state-owned enterprises (SoEs) to increase depth of the market, said finance minister AMA Muhith on Wednesday.

The minister also said the government was going to rationalise the interest rate of national savings directorate (NSD) certificates and that the gap between the interest rate and inflation would be maximum 1.0 per cent.

"We have decided to ask the companies to securitise themselves and prepare for floatation within six months," he said.

Some of the companies would be offloaded in six months and the rest in phases, he said.

The minister did not specify how much money the government was going to get by selling the shares.

"The amount, the number of shares and the timing of offloading will be decided later," he said.

"SoEs in power, energy, industry, bridge, communication, telecom and health sectors will be offloaded," he added.

Bangabandhu Bridge, Unilever, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), Hotel Sheraton and Sonargaon, Essential Drugs, BTCL, Sylhet Gas Transmission Company and some other SoEs will be offloaded.

The minister said book-building method is well accepted by everybody and it is expected that the SoEs will also be offloaded through the method.

The companies needed to undergo reassessment before their share-floating and they would do it in six months, Mr Muhith said.

"BSC is almost ready to float the shares and it is expected that it will raise Tk 50 billion from the market," the minister said.

The government has also decided to offload Unilever shares and the decision is conveyed to the multinational company, he said.

There is an agreement that if the government wants to sell its stake in the company, it must offer Unilever to buy the shares first.

He lamented that the SoEs do not want to float share and termed it 'foolishness'.

"They come to the government for recapitalisation of Tk 400 million, whereas they can raise Tk 2 billion from the market," he said.

Share capitalisation had increased manifold in the last one year and the money in the market should be utilised properly, he said.

"Value of some shares is overheated and the new listings will help cool the market," he added.

The minister said 62 SoEs were identified for offloading in 2005 but it came down to 38 and six of them have already been floated.

"Six of the 32 SoEs have some problems including legal disputes and they will be offloaded after resolving those," he said.

More and more companies would now be listed with the bourses, he hoped.

The minister declined to make any comment on the reported stock exchange index manipulation.

Mr Muhith on Tuesday in parliament said the government was taking steps to do away with private placement as underwriters are obliged to buy unsold shares.

Mr Muhith said the interest rate of NSD certificates would be rationalised and a committee has been formed comprising representatives from Bangladesh Bank, Internal Resource Division and Finance Division to come up with suggestions in two months.

Turnover hits new record amid end of stocks' bull run - 13.01.2010

The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) plunged 90.56 points, its six-month single-day fall, on Wednesday but setting a record turnover that crossed Tk 14.0 billion mark for the first time.

Traders said strong rumours of further curbs on loan margin ratio and suspension of netting facility has put an end to the 16th straight session gaining streak.

A member of the SEC strongly ruled out such an intervention billing the rumour as 'bogus'.

Sources close to the matter said, "Somebody from the Securities and Exchange Commission asked the merchant bankers to temporarily suspend netting facility." Analysts, however, said there could have been normal profit taking after the long rally.

The plunge could have been deeper but modest buying in the closing hour shrank the day's deepest decline to record at 4848.68 points from 4640.25 points intra-low.

The intra-day volatility was more than 200 points, which is the highest ever in DSE.

Eventually, the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) dipped 90.56 points or 1.88 per cent --- its highest single-day fall since December 20 last year --to close at 4704.14. Earlier on December 20, 2008, it lost 81.40 points.

12 Jan 2010

JS body suggests listing of ICB firms on bourses

A parliamentary body has asked the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) to immediately list its three subsidiary companies on bourses.

“We recommended that ICB list its subsidiary companies on stock exchanges. These three firms are ICB Capital Management Limited, ICB Asset Management Company Limited and ICB Security and Training Limited,” AHM Mostafa Kamal, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Ministry, told reporters after a meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban yesterday.

The committee also suggested the newly formed Bangladesh Development Bank Limited take steps so that the bank gets relieved of sick clients or borrowing industrialists after settling their loans and other dues.

The bank, which came into being after the merger between Bangladesh Shilpa Bank and Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha, launched its operation recently with industrial financing, commercial banking and merchant banking at the core of its services.

Pointing his finger at the sick clients of the development bank, the parliamentary body chief said, “We have told the new bank officials to come up with a list specifying the very sick, sick and well running companies so that the list come under review in the committee's next meeting.”

S Alam Steels, Aftab Auto get SEC nod to issue preference shares

Two companies, S Alam Cold Rolled Steels and Aftab Automobiles, got the nod of the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) to issue 5.33 million and 18 million preferenceshares respectively, company sources said.

S Alam will issue the 5.33 million preference shareswith 6 per cent interim dividends as per decision of the company taken in its EGM on December 12 last. Each share will have a face value of Tk 100.

The preference shares will be converted into ordinary shares and will remain locked-in for one year from the date of issuance.

A half of the shares will be converted on May 2 at 30 per cent discount on the basis of their weighted average price during the period from the record date to April 20.

The remaining shares will be converted on August 1 at 30 per cent discount on the basis of their weighted average price during the period from the record to July 31.

The 6 per cent dividend will be paid in two quarters. In the first quarter, an interim dividend of 3.0 per cent will be paid on April 2 and the remaining 3 per cent interim dividend of the second quarter will be paid on August 1. Their record dates will be April 30 and July 31 respectively.

On the other hand, Aftab Automobiles will issue 18 million preference shareswith 5 per cent interim dividends. Each share will have a face value of Tk 100.

SEC pores over 'flawed indexing' info

Two bourses followed apparently flawed computations for Grameenphone shares in November, despite clear instructions from the market regulator to follow a standard indexing method.

The bourses were meant to follow the instructions from September last year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is yet to describe the bourses' calculations as a violation of law, but has said computations were far from "reliable and verifiable".

“We are evaluating all the information collected. If the commission finds any violation or flaw in the method of their calculation, the commission will take necessary action,” said Farhad Ahmed, executive director of SEC, in a press briefing yesterday.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange follows IASCO-recommended guidelines in index counting, while the Chittagong Stock Exchange follows the Laspeyres index calculation method.

The SEC at a meeting on May 28, 2009 directed the two stock exchanges to strictly follow index calculations as prescribed by their respective systems.

IASCO guidelines say the calculation must be 'reliable and verifiable', and the Laspeyres method emphasises that index counting will be based on weighted average prices of a base period.

The search for information by the market watchdog comes, as it suspects that DSE followed different methods in different times.

Farhad Ahmed of SEC said the media reported that the exchanges had violated IASCO guidelines in index calculation and the market is based on flawed indexation.

“It is not appropriate, as the IASCO guideline does not say the index calculation should be from the second day of a company's share trading or that it should not be based on the first day's transaction," he said.

"The IASCO guideline says the calculations must be reliable and verifiable, which means the index can be counted from any day of a company's trading debut."

But both DSE's and CSE's calculation while incorporating Grameenphone shares showed unusual reflections in the key indices, which means the index calculation was not reliable and verifiable, he said.

The flawed counting also resulted in confusion among market experts, analysts, investors and stakeholders.

On November 16, 2009, the trading debut day of Grameenphone, the benchmark index of DSE skyrocketed by more than 764 points, as DSE counted the index from the first day, based on the face value of each Grameenphone share at Tk 10.

On the other hand, CSE calculated the index on a five-day weighted average price of Grameenphone shares, which also did not give an accurate picture in the index.

About the meeting in May, Satipati Moitra, chief executive officer of DSE, said: “I can hardly remember anything about the meeting. I will not say anything on the issue. Moitra was present at the meeting as the then chief financial officer.

CSE authorities say they calculated the index based on the Laspeyres method, the one they usually follow.

However, the distortion was acute in the case of Grameenphone, because of its size. Even though the same methods were followed in the previous cases, the distortions were not reflected because of the small capital sizes.

SEC now ordered the two exchanges to start counting the index from the second day of a company's trade, based on the first day's closing price.

“As it had seen a huge gap, in most cases, between the first day's trading price and the IPO price, the commission suggests counting the index from the second day,” Farhad Ahmed explained.

9 Jan 2010

Telenor acquires more 11pc stake in Uninor

NEW DELHI, Jan 9 (Economic Times): Norway's Telenor Friday bought 11 per cent more in Uninor, the mobile phone joint venture with real estate developer Unitech, for Rs 15 billion. The move will help the Indian venture fight the tariff war in the fast-growing wireless market.

"This third investment, as the earlier transactions, will provide Uninor with working capital to fund roll out of services across India," its executive vice-president and head of Asian operations, Sigve Brekke said in a statement.

With this investment, Telenor Group's stake in Uninor raises to 60.1 per cent and it has the option to raise it to as much as 67.25 per cent. The Norwegian company will invest the fourth and final tranche by the end of this fiscal.

Telenor acquires more 11pc stake in Uninor

NEW DELHI, Jan 9 (Economic Times): Norway's Telenor Friday bought 11 per cent more in Uninor, the mobile phone joint venture with real estate developer Unitech, for Rs 15 billion. The move will help the Indian venture fight the tariff war in the fast-growing wireless market.

"This third investment, as the earlier transactions, will provide Uninor with working capital to fund roll out of services across India," its executive vice-president and head of Asian operations, Sigve Brekke said in a statement.

With this investment, Telenor Group's stake in Uninor raises to 60.1 per cent and it has the option to raise it to as much as 67.25 per cent. The Norwegian company will invest the fourth and final tranche by the end of this fiscal.

5 Jan 2010

GEMINISEA; FINEFOODS; SINOBANGLA

As per decision of SEC, trading of the shares of the company will be held in Demat form with effect from January 28, 2010. In this respect, trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market on January 24, 2010 and trading of the shares will remain suspended during January 25-27, 2010 for finalization of Demat proces

Flawed DSE index and indulgent regulator

The index of a major bourse represents the performance of the stock market of a country and, to a great extent, highlights the investors' sentiment on the state of its economy.

However, there could be exceptions. The stock market developments, primarily based on investors' interest in stocks, sometimes may not reflect the situation prevailing in other areas of the economy. Bangladesh market is a testimony to that fact.

But what if the indices of the country's premier bourse are calculated deliberately on flawed premises, ignoring internationally accepted practices?

Newspaper reports have revealed that the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has been, deliberately or otherwise, following a flawed system to calculate its daily index. The securities regulator -- the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) -- was aware of the folly but ignored it.

The point that the newspaper reports have highlighted is that the DSE has been counting index points in the case of a debutant company from the very first day of its trading. Moreover, while calculating index it takes into account the face value of a stock, not the premium value, if there is any.

The incumbent chairman of the SEC has admitted that the index calculation by the DSE is flawed since the first day trade of a company on a stock does not provide benchmark from where points could be calculated.

The SEC has already asked the DSE authorities to start counting index points in the case of a debutant company from the second day of its trading.

But why have the internationally accepted best norms of index calculation -- that the DSE had agreed to introduce back in 1998 -- been ignored this time?

The securities regulator, too, cannot shirk its responsibility. It is expected to see that information given by the bourses for the consumption of the investors are correct, not manipulated ones.

Had the DSE followed a correct method of calculation, its index would not have reached the present high level.

For instance, on the first trading day of Grameenphone, the largest ever issue listed with the country's bourses, the DSE took into account the face value of its share at Tk. 10, not its premium value of Tk. 60, for index calculation. This has resulted in the skyrocketing of the general index of DSE (DGEN). A total of 764 points were added to the DGEN on the day and the GP alone contributed more than 400 points.

Interestingly, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), country's second yet smaller bourse, however, did follow the standard practice of index calculation. It did calculate the index points of GP on the second day of its trading to give a correct picture.

This quantum jump of the price-weighted index, where price movement of even a single security does heavily influence the value of the index, did otherwise send wrong message to general investors, particularly the small ones. Encouraged by the market-trend, more and more people, in the meanwhile, have been attracted to a market where most stocks are highly over-priced and, the possibility of ordinary investors' being burnt in the event of the worst happening, can not be ruled out.

Many small investors have already lost a large part of their investment but they are still hanging on with a hope to recover the loss.

It is not befitting for anyone, particularly among the DSE top brass, to bask in the glory of high growth of the market, genuine or otherwise. They do need to advise the investors to be cautious in making investments in an overheated market and not appear before the media all the time when the index is up.

The SEC in a meeting with the chief executive officers of the bourses Tuesday asked to follow the method of calculating index for a debutant company from the second day of its trading. The SEC order will be applicable in the case of next debutant issue.

So, the present index calculated wrongly would not be corrected. That is what, actually, the authorities of the bourse did, perhaps, want the most. For, if the wrongs are righted the DGEN would come down to around 3000. The DSE cannot afford such a drastic fall in index since it would leave a negative impression among the investors about the market. For the greater interest of the market, one might accept the latest SEC directive.

But, at the same time, one will have some valid reasons to question the 'wisdom' of those, past and present who missed up the issue of index calculation. It is a technical matter and most investors, institutional investors included, are not aware how it is done. But the regulator must be having the requisite expertise to examine the issues involved in index calculation. It should then explain why it has not been able to apply this expertise when mistakes, deliberately or otherwise, were committed while calculating the index.

3 Jan 2010

JS likely to pass two new ins bills

TOKYO, Jan 3 (Reuters): The Tokyo Stock Exchange(TSE), Asia's largest equities bourse, said it would go ahead with the launch of its new trading system as planned Monday after running final checks.

The new system will be able to process trades in five milliseconds, 600 times faster than the two to three seconds needed on the current system, and roughly the same speed as the New York and Londonstock exchanges.

A spokesman the TSE said the exchange ran final checks on the system, called "Arrowhead," and determined that it was ready to be launched as planned on January 4, the first trading day of 2010.

Analysts say Arrowhead should allow for more computer-driven trading including so-called high-frequency trading where algorithms are used to trade thousands of shares in milliseconds to profit from tiny spreads and market imbalances.

The TSE, which plans to go public after April 2010, is betting on Arrowhead after several embarrassing computer glitches tarnished its image with investors.

Last month the exchange was ordered to pay $120.5 million in damages to Mizuho Securities for a botched trade in 2005.

A 2006 accounting scandal at Livedoor Co sparked a massive sell-off of the Internet company. Unable to handle the rush of orders from panicked investors, the TSE had to curtail its trading hours for three months.

Parliament expected to pass insurance bills

The winter session of parliament that begins today is expected to pass two insurance-related bills, aiming to streamline the insurance business.

The two bills are The Insurance Act 2009 and The Insurance Regulatory Authority Act 2009.

“These two bills will be passed in the coming session,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith told reporters after a meeting with the Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA) representatives at his ministry's conference room on Sunday.

BIA Chairman Rafiqul AKM Islam led the BIA delegation.

Muhith would pilot the two bills in parliament.

On July 9, the minister had placed the Insurance Bill 2009 and the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill 2009 in parliament to pave the way for strengthening the regulatory process of the insurance sector.

After scrutiny, the standing committee submitted the bills to parliament in September.

However, the minister had some disagreements with the standing committee over a few clauses of the bills, but eventually the committee ignored his suggestions.

Sources said the minister proposed that there should not be any restriction on the appointment of the chief of the insurance regulatory authority arguing that the appointment of a person to the highest position should be open.

The minister had also suggested that the number of directors of an insurance company be limited to 15. He also felt that a director of an insurance company should not be a member of the board of any bank or any other insurance company.

The Insurance Bill 2009 says the paid-up capital for a life insurance company will be Tk 30 crore from the existing Tk 7.5 crore and for a general insurance Tk 40 crore from the existing Tk 15 crore.

A total of 62 insurers are operating in the country and earned Tk 425 crore in premium last year.

The proposed Insurance Act 2009 says the sector needs to be managed properly and be strengthened by reducing business risks, while local and international insurance laws need to be harmonised considering the country's socioeconomic aspects.

The Insurance Regulatory Authority Act 2009 says that there is an increasing need to regulate one of the largest sectors in the country, harmonise local and international insurance laws considering the socioeconomic aspects of the country, and protect the interests of policyholders and other related beneficiaries.

The insurance act proposes that insurance companies to be categorised as 'life' and 'non-life' instead of 'life' and 'general'.

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