KATHMANDU, Nov 6: A prolonged protest by employees of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has stalled public issuance plans worth Rs 80 billion, affecting nearly 100 companies awaiting regulatory approval.
SEBON employees have been on strike for more than a month and a half after the government decided to curtail the perks and benefits they had long received from the institution. The agitation has brought most of SEBON’s activities to a standstill, disrupting the approval process for initial public offerings (IPOs), rights shares, debentures, and mutual funds.
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The latest public issuance approved by SEBON was that of NMB Saral Bachat Fund-E, cleared on September 3. Since then, no new applications have been approved. According to SEBON, 99 firms are currently in line for approval to float 1.37 billion units of public issuance, with a combined value of Rs 80.64 billion. Of these, 74 applications are for IPOs, eight for rights shares, four for further public offerings, four for debentures, and nine for mutual fund schemes.
The protest began after the Ministry of Finance (MoF), through a letter dated September 2, instructed SEBON employees to repay loans and benefits taken from staff welfare funds along with interest. The MoF claimed that the establishment of SEBON’s welfare and protection funds violated the Government of Nepal (Allocation of Business) Rules, 2017, as well as SEBON’s own staff service regulations. It directed the recovery of all disbursements made under what it described as “illegal procedures” and required prior ministry approval for any future financial commitments.
In response, SEBON employees launched an agitation on September 23, demanding the regulator’s autonomy and calling for the government to revoke its decision. The employees have also demanded the resignation of SEBON Chairman Santosh Narayan Shrestha and have barred him from entering the office premises.
An official at SEBON said the government’s directive would affect not only current staff but also former employees who had already received such benefits.
Meanwhile, SEBON’s board held a meeting at the Ministry of Finance in Singha Durbar on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing protest. According to an official, the meeting considered several agendas, including granting the chairman authority to pursue legal remedies in court against the ministry’s decision.
