Financial literacy, guidance, and capital market participation in Bangladesh: Evidence from finance students and professionals in Dhaka

Abstract

This internship report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Business Administration degree at BRAC Business School, BRAC University. The report is based on a three-month internship at UCB Stock Brokerage Limited's Research Department, from 3rd December 2025 to 3rd March 2026, and is organized into three chapters. The overview of the internship (Chapter One) provides details of the student, placement, scope of internship responsibilities and reflection on outcomes. The main tasks involved were preparing Morning News Snippets and Evening Market Updates for investor distribution, performing a detailed equity valuation of Jamuna Bank PLC on five methodologies including Residual Income Model, monitoring mutual fund NAVs, earning disclosure and preparing Annual Equity Research Report and Banking Sector Report. The internship gave practical exposure to a key personal outcome of opening an account with Beneficial Owner (BO) and starting investing for the equity market for the first time. Chapter Two provides an organizational analysis of UCB Stock Brokerage Limited, the number one ranked Stock Brokerage House of Bangladesh according to the DSE market share since December 2021. The chapter includes background on the company, management and leadership principles, marketing strategy, digital platforms (UTrade and UINVEST), financial performance indicators, operational systems and competitive positioning. A Porter's Five Forces and SWOT analysis are done while competitive analysis is carried out with BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage, LankaBangla Securities, Shanta Securities, and City Brokerage. Chapter Three reports on a primary research study which examined why there remains low participation in the capital markets among finance students and banking/NBFI professionals in Bangladesh, a population with above-average financial education and still a low rate of participation in the equity market. 105 respondents were reached through a structured survey process who were in Dhaka. The results show only 30.5% have BO account, 77.1% have never used research report to make investment decision and 83.8% think that university finance education is lacking in practicing investing. The three key barriers that were outlined are lack of structured guidance, behavioural loss aversion from deposit preference and a significant institutional trust deficit, where 76.2% felt that market manipulation occurs. The chapter ends by giving some recommendations to the universities, banks and NBFIs, namely the UCB Stock Brokerage and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).