The number of beneficiary owner’s accounts has seen a significant decline in July, amid prolonged dullness on the country’s stock market and economic worries.

According to Central Depository Bangladesh Limited data, the number of operable BO accounts decreased by 1,07,186 accounts as of July 31 this year, with the total number coming down to 16,67,913.

The number of operable BO accounts as of July 1 was 17,75,099.

Opening a BO account with the CDBL through a depository participant, which is usually a stockbroker or a merchant bank, is a must for trading shares at the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges.

The number of operable BO accounts witnessed a slow rise in the previous six months before July, starting the year with 17,73,551 accounts and reaching its peak on May 28 with 17,91,481 accounts.

Of the active BO accounts as of July 31, individual investors operated 11,83,567 BO accounts, joint investors operated 4,67,196 BO accounts and 17,150 accounts were operated by different companies, including institutional investors, the CDBL data showed.

Excluding the company-owned BO accounts, 16,03,672 accounts were owned by Bangladeshi investors and 47,091 accounts by non-resident Bangladeshi investors, it showed.

Of these accounts, 12,48,349 were owned by male investors and 4,02,414 by female investors.

Stockbrokers said that the number of total operable BO accounts witnessed decrease as investors were still unnerved about the recent unrest in the country.

Digital trading and transactions came to a halt when the whole country came under internet blackout from July 18 to 24, which caused the investors to lose their confidence in the market, they said.

Users are still complaining about slow internet speeds, which are affecting digital trading.

The number of BO accounts reached its peak at about 34 lakh in the 2010-11financial year, the year of market bubble-burst, as people rushed to open accounts with different brokerage houses lured by booming share prices, especially from October to early December of 2010.