Finance Committee issues directive to continue with the process for broker license

The House of Representatives, Finance Committee has issued directives to the bodies concerned to move ahead the stalled process related to the license for stock brokers and stock dealers.

The committee at its meeting today directed the Ministry of Finance, the Nepal Stock Board and the Nepal Stock Exchange to go ahead with the licensing 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 stopped the process of issuing the broker license, saying an investigation was required on 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, Nepal Stock Board 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 of issuing licenses, 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 favour of carrying out work by keeping competition, transparency and openness as priorities in a market economy.

Former Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel suggested resuming the licensing 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 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 the attention of the Committee to carry out serious discussions on the country's economic situation.

Stock Board Chair Ramesh Hamal claimed that the licenses have been issued to the stock brokers and traders transparently 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 paved the way for issuing new stock broker and trader licenses for new stock companies, commodity markets and stock transactions.