KATHMANDU, MAY 4
The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has issued letter of intent (LoI) for broker licence to as many as 13 companies on Wednesday, taking the total number of newly licensed stock brokers to 29.
Of the total 45 applications submitted at SEBON for new broker licences, the board had granted LoI to 16 additional companies on Monday and to 13 others on Wednesday.
A total of 13 firms, including Sunrise Securities Ltd, JBNL Securities Ltd, Sharepro Securities Pvt Ltd, Stockscarts Securities Ltd, Property Wizard Ltd, Capital Hub Pvt Ltd, Milky Way Share Broker Co Ltd, Blue Chip Securities Ltd, Garima Securities Ltd, Kalash Stock Market Pvt Ltd, Money World Share Exchange Pvt Ltd, Subhakamana Securities Pvt Ltd and Miyo Securities Pvt Ltd received LoI from SEBON on Wednesday.
According to SEBON, 29 of the total 45 companies that applied for new broker licences have been given LoI and the board is also preparing to grant licences to eligible companies who meet the given requirements.
Earlier the board had made arrangements for interested companies or organisations to be able to apply for a broker licence in the stock exchange within the first month of every financial year.
Stating that the provision to distribute stock broker licences to additional companies has been a long demand of market stakeholders, analysts said they expect the capital market will witness some positive growth in coming days.
According to Chhote Lal Rauniyar, the capital market has evolved drastically compared to previous years.
So far, 5.5 million people have opened a demat account, 4.57 million are registered in MeroShare, 2.7 million have participated in initial public offerings (IPOs) and 1.4 million are registered in the online trading system.
"The increase in the number of stock broker companies is much needed to cater to the increasing number of stakeholders as well as to discourage monopoly in the market," he said.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 5, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
