What Is an Asset Management Company in Bangladesh?

An asset management company, usually shortened to AMC, is a firm licensed to invest other people's money on their behalf. In Bangladesh, an AMC pools money from many investors into mutual funds, decides what those funds buy and sell, and reports back on how the money has performed.

If you have ever considered putting savings into a mutual fund rather than a fixed deposit or Sanchayapatra, an AMC is the institution actually managing that money. This guide explains what AMCs do, what the licence means, who checks their work, and what to look at before choosing one. If you are new to funds themselves, start with what a mutual fund is.

What an asset management company actually does

An AMC has four main jobs.

It raises and pools money. Individual investors rarely have enough capital to build a properly diversified portfolio on their own. An AMC collects money from hundreds or thousands of investors into a single fund, and each investor owns units representing their share.

It decides where the money goes. A research team analyses companies, bonds and market conditions, then builds a portfolio within the limits set out in the fund's own rules. Those limits are not optional — they are written into the fund's constitutive documents and enforced.

It handles the administration. Calculating the net asset value, processing purchases and redemptions, distributing dividends, filing regulatory reports.

It reports to investors. Periodic disclosures on holdings, performance and expenses.

For this, the AMC charges a management fee, deducted from the fund's assets. That fee is the AMC's revenue, which is why fee levels are worth comparing.

What a BSEC licence means

Anyone can call themselves an investment adviser. Only a licensed AMC can legally manage a mutual fund in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission issues these licences and supervises the firms that hold them, under the Mutual Fund Rules 2025. Licensing is not a formality. An applicant must meet minimum paid-up capital requirements, demonstrate that its directors and senior management are fit and proper persons, and show it has the professional staff and systems to manage money competently.

Once licensed, an AMC operates under ongoing supervision. It must file regular reports, disclose net asset values on a set schedule, keep within the investment limits laid down for each fund, and submit to inspection.

How to check a firm is licensed: BSEC publishes the list of licensed asset management companies on its own website at sec.gov.bd. If a firm is not on that list, it cannot legally manage a mutual fund in Bangladesh. Check before you invest, not after.

Nobody holds your money alone: trustee and custodian

This is the part most first-time investors do not know, and it is the single most reassuring fact about how mutual funds are structured.

The AMC does not hold your money. Three separate institutions are involved, deliberately.

The asset management company makes the investment decisions. That is all it does.

The trustee supervises the AMC on behalf of unitholders. The trustee is a separate, independently appointed institution registered with BSEC. It reviews what the AMC does, checks that the fund is being run in line with the trust deed and BSEC rules, and can intervene if it is not. The trustee's legal duty is to the investors, not to the AMC.

The custodian physically holds the fund's assets — the securities and the cash — and settles transactions. Again, a separate registered institution. The custodian does not make investment decisions; it keeps the assets safe and records movements accurately.

The point of splitting these three roles is that no single institution both decides where money goes and holds it. An AMC cannot quietly move fund assets, because it never has them. This structure is the main reason a regulated mutual fund is a different proposition from handing your savings to an individual who promises to invest them.

What AMCs manage in Bangladesh

Open-end funds. You can buy or sell units at any time, at the fund's net asset value. There is no fixed maturity and no fixed number of units. Most funds launched in Bangladesh in recent years are open-end.

Closed-end funds. A fixed number of units, a fixed life, and units trade on the stock exchange rather than being bought from and sold back to the fund. Because they trade on the market, the price can drift above or below the actual net asset value.

Within those two structures, funds differ by what they invest in:

• Equity funds invest mainly in listed shares. Higher potential returns, higher volatility, suited to long horizons — for example the Ekush Growth Fund.
• Fixed-income funds invest in treasury bills and bonds, fixed deposits and corporate bonds. Steadier, lower ceiling — for example the Ekush Stable Return Fund.
• Balanced funds hold both, with the mix adjusted according to conditions — for example the Ekush First Unit Fund.
• Shariah-compliant funds apply an Islamic screen to holdings.

Separately from mutual funds, many AMCs also offer separately managed accounts (SMAs) — a portfolio built for one client rather than pooled with others, usually for larger investors who want a mandate tailored to their own circumstances.

How to evaluate an asset management company

Six things are worth checking, roughly in order of importance. For a longer version of this list, see our seven-point checklist for choosing an AMC.

1. Performance against a benchmark, not in isolation. A fund returning 15% in a year the market returned 25% has underperformed. Ask what benchmark the fund measures itself against — DSEX, DS30, or a fixed-deposit rate for income funds — and look at the fund's record against it over the longest period available. One good year proves very little.

2. How it behaved in a bad market. This matters more than the good years. Bangladesh's equity market has had extended downturns. A manager who lost less than the index during those periods has demonstrated something a bull-market track record cannot.

3. Who actually runs the money. Look for named individuals with verifiable histories, professional qualifications such as the CFA charter or FCA, and prior senior roles you can check. A firm that will not tell you who manages your money is telling you something.

4. Ownership and alignment. Is the AMC owned by the people running it, or is it a subsidiary of a larger group with its own priorities? Does the firm invest its own capital in the funds it manages? A manager with personal money in the same fund loses when you lose.

5. Fees and total expenses. The management fee is not the whole cost. Ask for the total expense ratio, which includes trustee fees, custodian fees, audit and other charges. On a long holding period, a one-percent difference in annual costs compounds into a large difference in outcome.

6. Liquidity and exit terms. For open-end funds, how long between submitting a redemption and money reaching your bank account? Is there an exit load — a penalty for selling within a certain period? Is there a lock-in? These vary between firms and are easy to overlook until you need the money.

About Ekush

Ekush Wealth Management Limited is a BSEC-licensed asset management company, licensed on 20 November 2019 under licence number BSEC/AMC/2019/44. We manage three open-end mutual funds and offer separately managed accounts. You can read more about the company and our investment philosophy.

Sandhani Life Insurance Company Limited acts as trustee to our funds, and BRAC Bank Limited as custodian.

You can verify our licence on the BSEC list of asset management companies.

Mutual fund investments are subject to market risk. Past performance does not guarantee future returns. This article is general information, not personal investment advice.