October 6: The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has made changes to its Integrated Guidelines for the year 2080 BS. One of the remarkable changes is the removal of the previous upper cap on margin lending, which was set at Rs 120 million. Under the new guidelines, the NRB has increased the limit for margin lending.

Individual investors can now avail margin lending up to Rs 150 million, while institutional investors have a higher limit of Rs 200 million.This means that investors now have more flexibility in borrowing money for investing in the stock market.

This decision to remove the cap on margin lending comes in response to pressure from share market investors who argued that the cap of Rs 120 million on loans against the securities was negatively impacting the stock market.

Additionally, the amended guidelines require commercial banks to maintain a counter cyclical buffer of 0.5 percent by the end of the current fiscal year.