Representatives of aspirant stockbrokers and Surbir Poudel, chairman of Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), and Tanka Paneru, chairman of Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse), had sat for talks on Wednesday after the agitating aspirant stockbrokers picketed Nepse to press the government for immediate resumption of the process to recruit new stockbrokers. [break]
Bharat Ranabhat, coordinator of struggle committee of aspirant stockbrokers, said the talks failed to reach fruition as Nepse and SEBON officials failed to assure them of immediate resumption of selection process.
“We won´t withdraw our indefinite protest unless the government assures us of immediate resumption of selection process,” Ranabhat said.
The selection process has become uncertain following the resignation of Shankar Man Singh, general manager of Nepse, on July 25.
Singh, who was also the coordinator of selection committee, had tendered high resignation amid growing misunderstanding among the committee members and due to ongoing probe into the selection process by SEBON.
SEBON - the capital market regulator - has been looking into alleged irregularities in the selection process as per the direction of Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) -- the constitutional anti-graft body.
Keeping in view the expanding stock market on the back of limited stockbrokers, the government had initiated the process of appointing 27 new stockbrokers to bring the total number of stockbrokers at the secondary market to 50.
Nepse had initiated the process after getting go-ahead from SEBON just before Singh´s resignation.
Nepse had halted the process for almost a month, seeking written direction from the capital market regulator to continue with selection process. It had widened the differences between the two government agencies.
Despite huge growth in trading volume and number of listed companies at the secondary market, Nepse had failed to increase the number of stockbrokers to facilitate investors and end monopoly of existing stockbrokers. The number of stockbrokers at the secondary market has declined to 23 from 32.
The recruitment process had not resumed even after the apex court verdict to continue with the process.
The process has come to a halt at a time when Nepse was preparing to take exam worth 25 percent of total weightage, among the 316 aspirants of the 334 companies that had filed their applications.
Meanwhile, Singh has refused to withdraw his resignation unless ´some´ conditions are fulfilled. However, he did not elaborate what those conditions were. He said he would put forth the conditions before the government.
Singh clarified his position at a meeting with SEBON Chairman Poudel and Nepse Chairman Paneru in the presence of Finance Secretary Rameshwore Khanal, who had asked him to reconsider his decision to resign.
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