KATHMANDU, July 9: Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) has announced that it will launch ‘One Nepali, One Demat Account’ campaign to increase participation of more public in the securities market.
Unveiling the ‘Policy and Program of the Securities and Commodities Exchange Market’ for Fiscal Year 2018/19, Sebon Chairperson Rewat Bahadur Karki said that the capital market regulator will run the campaign to bring more people in the capital market. “A massive campaign will be run to encourage people to open demat account for making Nepal’s securities market comprehensive,” said Karki.
The ‘policy and program’ introduced for the first time includes measures to develop and reform securities market infrastructure, market supervision, strengthen regulation and enhance the regulatory body’ capacity, among others. It also aims at complementing the announcements made in the budget speech by Minister for Finance for the upcoming fiscal year 2018/19.
Investors told to close multiple demat accounts within 35 days
In its policy and program, Sebon has also vowed to give impetus to formation and implementation of rules and regulations related to securities market. According to the ‘policy and program’ statement, the formulation of the new act related to the securities will be initiated in the upcoming fiscal year. Regulations related to alternative investment fund, insider trading, merger and acquisition of listed companies and securities business firms, supervision manual on anti money laundering and rules and directives related to commodities exchange market will also be framed and implemented in FY2018/19, according to the policy and program.
Karki also said that Sebon will soon initiate the process of issuing license to a new stock exchange company. While Sebon was weighing the need for a new stock exchange company since last year, the new policy and program states that the process of licensing new stock exchange on corporate model will begin in the coming fiscal year. “The licensing process will be started in the new fiscal year to expand the secondary market services across the country, bring international-level trading system, develop the bond market, and make securities market competitive,” said Karki.
He also said that Sebon will work in close collaboration with Ministry of Finance and Office of Company Registrar, among other government agencies, to bring real sector companies into the stock market as announced in the budget for FY2018/19.
Presenting the budget for FY2018/19 last month, Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada had said that all manufacturing companies having capital of Rs 1 billion or above will have to transform into public company and list their shares on the secondary market for trading.
Real time surveillance of transactions at Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse), development of risk-based supervision model, onsite and offsite inspections of merchant bankers, stock brokerage firms and securities businesspersons, and formation of Securities and Futures Dispute Resolution Tribunal are some of the programs that the Sebon plans to carry out in FY2018/19, according to Chairman Karki.
