KATHMANDU, June 20: The House of Representatives’ Finance Committee has issued directives to the bodies concerned to move ahead the stalled process to issue licenses to stock brokers and stock dealers.

The committee at its meeting today directed the Ministry of Finance, the Nepal Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) and Nepal Stock Exchange to go ahead with the license process by fulfilling the due process and procedures. 

Committee senior-most member by age, Santosh Chalise said that directives have been issued to provide the license 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 license, saying an investigation was required whether or not the minimum criteria had been fulfilled while issuing the license to the stock brokers and traders. The same meeting had decided to issue a directive to the Finance ministry, SEBON and Nepal Stock Exchange to immediately stop all processes related to the issuance of the license until a conclusion was reached after investigating the licenses issued by the Board. 

The Board has issued stock trader and broker licenses 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 for issuing license, arguing that an investigation was required whether these companies that acquired licenses fulfilled the minimum criteria. 

The members speaking in the meeting today put their views in favor of carrying out works by keeping competition, transparency and openness in priority in a market economy.

Former Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel suggested resuming the license process by fulfilling the due process, procedures, laws and standards. He urged the Finance Ministry and the Stock Board 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 on the need of making the stock market dynamic as per the law and in a transparent manner for the benefit of the society. He also called attention to the Committee to carry out serious discussions on the country's economic situation. 

SEBON Chair Ramesh 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 license for new stock companies, commodity markets and stock transactions.

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