SEBON to monitor big investors
Kathmandu, June 28
The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) is gearing up to keep an eye on big investors of the capital market. The securities market regulator is making necessary preparations to issue a circular to brokerage firms to submit details of investors, who carry out daily transactions of over Rs five million.
After the enforcement of the Anti-Money Laundering Act in the country, the brokerage firms are required to notify the securities market regulator regarding transactions of above Rs one million. However, as per the existing regulations, the brokerage firms need to submit only the names of the investors to SEBON.
Once the new rules are enforced, the brokerage firms will be required to give all relevant details of the investors as well.
The daily turnover in the capital market has been exceeding Rs one billion in recent days. In this context, there are both up- and downsides to the proactive role that the securities market regulator plans to undertake in the near future.
On the positive side, it would ensure sound growth of the capital market by discouraging illicit flow of funds. On the flip side, SEBON’s move could discourage investors from investing huge amounts of money in the country’s only secondary market.
SEBON has said that its move is not aimed at discouraging genuine investors. “Those who are genuine investors need not worry about the risks emanating from SEBON’s move,” a high level official at SEBON told The Himalayan Times.
“We plan to initiate this measure only to control the chances of illicit capital flow in the country’s only trading bourse.”
KATHMANDU: The secondary market set a fresh record on Tuesday, with the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index surging by 0.66 per cent or 11.35 points to rest at 1,724.19 points. The sensitive index, which gauges the performance of class ‘A’ stocks, rose by 0.7 per cent to close at 373.05 points. Similarly, the float index that measures the performance of shares actually traded also gained 0.76 per cent to 125.53 points. All the subgroups witnessed gains, with the country’s sole secondary market recording a turnover of Rs 1.84 billion with 4.94 million shares of 136 companies changing hands through 7,560 transactions.
