February 26: The recommendation committee for the post of the chairman of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), which is vacant since January 5, will start its work to recommend names for the post from this week. A meeting of the Council of Ministers had formed the three-member recommendation committee for the appointment of the board’s chairman on January 17 under the coordination of Min Bahadur Shrestha, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission.

Among the members of the committee are the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Krishnahari Pushkar and Professor Uday Niraula.

The committee has already prepared the necessary procedure for the appointment of the board’s chairman and informed that the appointment process will be started from this week according to the same procedure.

Admitting that the recommendation process was delayed due to the busy schedule of the coordinator of the recommendation committee and the finance secretary, the committee said that the process will proceed without any more delay.

The Securities Act 2063 has a provision to form a committee consisting of the finance secretary and an expert related to the securities sector under the coordination of the member of the National Planning Commission to recommend the chairman to the board.

The recommendation committee will recommend the names of three qualified candidates from among the applicants. One of the three people recommended by the committee will be appointed as the chairman of the board for the next four-year term by the cabinet meeting.

As per the Securities Act, the candidate for the post of SEBON  chair must  have at least a master's degree, at least seven years of work experience in securities market management or capital market development or any of the fields related to economy, finance, commerce, management or law.

Eligible candidates can apply for the post according to the same provision.

Stakeholders argue that the regulatory body of the securities market, which has assets of more than Rs 3100 billion, should not be without a leadership for a long time. As the board is without a leader, the approval process of public issuance of securities has been stalled recently.

No company has received permission for public issuance of shares in the securities market since January 4. Ramesh Kumar Hamal had allowed Reliance Spinning Mills Limited to issue shares through the book building method on January 4 a day before his term ended.

In the first phase, the company has been allowed to issue and sell 770,640 units of shares to eligible institutional investors at a minimum price of Rs 608 to a maximum of Rs 912 per share. At present, 34 companies have applied with the board for the issuance of ordinary shares.

Similarly, five more companies are in line for further public offering (FPO). There are 9 companies in line for issuing rights shares. One company has applied for the issuance of bonds.

Stakeholders have demand the process of appointment of the chairman of SEBON must be completed as soon as possible as billions of rupees are traded daily in the secondary market.