Kathmandu. The Nepal Stock Exchange has been without a chairman for a long time.
Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) has become without a chairperson after Shobha Kanta Poudel increased from joint secretary to secretary. There is a provision for the government to appoint a joint secretary as the chairman of NEPSE.
The Ministry of Finance has not shown much interest in making new appointments even after almost four months of nepse being without a chairman. In the absence of a chairman, important works to be done in NEPSE have been stuck. Any policy decision has to be taken by the board of directors of NEPSE. However, nepse employees say that the board of directors meeting was rarely held during this period in the absence of a chairman and no issues were settled from those meetings.
Last year, the Securities Board of Nepal had implemented the Securities Issue and Transaction Rules, 2081 of small and medium organized organizations. Subsequently, the Securities Board had directed NEPSE and CDSC to create and implement a separate SME platform for trading shares of small and medium companies.
Nepse has already prepared bye-laws related to the operation of SME platforms as per the directives of the Securities Board. However, in the absence of a chairman, the bye-laws have not been presented in the meeting of nepse’s board of directors for a long time. Nepse’s board of directors has to send it to the Securities Board for approval only after the bye-laws are approved.
Other technical works required by NEPSE to operate the SME platform have been halted as the bye-laws have been stuck due to the finance ministry not finalizing to send the chairman.
Similarly, the securities board’s directive to prepare the necessary action plan for the restructuring of NEPSE has also been stuck. “The nepse restructuring action plan is ready, but how can it be submitted to the securities board without passing it by the board of directors?” ’
In the recent past, nepse has not been able to carry out activities other than normal administrative work.
Chief of the Financial Sector Management and Institutions Coordination Division of the Ministry of Finance and Joint Secretary Sewantak Pokharel said that discussions are underway regarding the appointment of chairman in NEPSE. “A new chairman will be appointed in NEPSE soon,” he said.
