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Finance Committee issues directive to government to open process for broker licence

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KATHMANDU: Finance Committee under the House of Representatives has issued directives to the bodies concerned to move ahead with the stalled process related to the licence for stock brokers and stock dealers. The committee at its meeting today directed the Ministry of Finance, Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) and Nepal Stock Exchange to go ahead with the licence process by fulfilling the due process and procedures. Committee senior-most member, Santosh Chalise said that directives have been issued to provide the licence to the stock brokers and traders by fulfilling the criteria and procedures. A meeting of the Finance Committee on June 12 had stopped the process of issuing the broker licence, saying an investigation was required on whether or not the minimum criteria had been fulfilled while issuing the licence to the stock brokers and traders. The same meeting had decided to issue directive to the Finance Ministry, SEBON and Nepal Stock Exchange to immediately stop all processes related to the issuance of the licence until a conclusion was reached after investigating the licences issued by SEBON. SEBON has issued stock trader and broker licences to 18 companies, including seven companies on May 22 and 11 companies on June 5. The Finance Committee had issued a directive to stop the process of issuing licences, arguing that an investigation was required whether these companies that acquired licences fulfilled the minimum criteria. The members speaking in the meeting today put their views in favour of carrying out work by keeping competition, transparency and openness as a priority in the market. Former Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel suggested resuming the licencing process by fulfilling the due process, procedures, laws and standards. He urged the Finance Ministry and SEBON to be accountable and responsible for the questions raised in the parliament and the parliamentary committee. Committee member and former Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki stressed the need for making the stock market dynamic as per the law and in a transparent manner for the benefit of society. He also called the attention of the committee to carry out serious discussions on the country's economic situation. SEBON Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal claimed that the licenses have been issued to the stock brokers and traders in a transparent manner and that there was no weakness anywhere in this process. The Supreme Court has also given a go-ahead for the licensing process for the stock traders before this. The Supreme Court decision on April 9 had paved the way for issuing new stock broker and trader licence for new stock companies, commodity markets and stock transactions. READ ALSO: