They also stressed on the necessity of strengthening inspection and monitoring capacity of Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) - the capital market regulator - to ensure proper functioning of the stock market. [break]
Presenting a working paper on ´Merchant Banking Business in Nepal: Process and Practice´, Dhruba Timilsina, deputy director of SEBON, suggested that market bankers be allowed to provide advisory services in merger and acquisition, corporate restructuring, financial restructuring, venture capital financing and rectify issue provisions and process for the real sector as well.
Securities Businessperson (Merchant Banking) Regulations, 2064 issued by SEBON, has defined merchant bankers as issue manager, share registrar, portfolio manager and security underwriter.
“Functions of merchant bankers shouldn´t be limited. There should be a wide range of functions for them to strengthen merchant banking,” Timilsina added.
Deepesh Vaidya, manager of Vibor Capital, who presented a working paper on ´Merchant Banking Business: Theoretical Aspect and Practice´, suggested including financial intermediary, full service brokerage, investment management to institutional as well as individual clients and venture capital investment management services in the existing services of merchant bankers.
In his working paper on ´Merchant Banking -- Financial Disclosures and Practices´, Megh Bahadur Thapa, deputy director of SEBON, suggested reforming the existing system for financial statement disclosure to make merchant bankers more responsible while submitting financial statement of their clients.
Shurbir Poudel, chairman of SEBON, said strengthening institutional capacity of SEBON was necessary to effectively regulate the ever growing security market of the country.
Other experts including Deepak Kafle, former chairman of SEBON, Bijaya KC securities experts, Sudarshan Pandey, vice-chairman of Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nepal had also underlined the need for expanding the scope of merchant banking and strengthening the inspection and monitoring capacity of SEBON.
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