Stock brokerage firms now have until the conclusion of Chaitra to fulfill their minimum capital requirements, following a new proposal issued by the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to the Ministry of Finance.
The Board has suggested modifying the Securities Businesspersons Regulation, 2064, to prolong the timeline without changing the current capital thresholds. According to the existing regulation, brokers are required to maintain either Rs. 20 crore or Rs. 60 crore, depending on their type of license, while stock dealers must uphold Rs. 1.5 billion in paid-up capital.
The previous deadline was established for the end of Ashad. With the proposed extension, firms that have yet to comply with the requirement — nearly twenty of them — will have additional time. A directive issued last Chaitra had permitted companies struggling to meet the threshold to contemplate mergers or acquisitions. The extension aims to provide a full year from the issuance of that directive, extending the deadline to the end of Chaitra.
Currently, there are 90 brokerage firms and 2 stock dealers operating in the market. Among them, only two brokers possess full licenses, each mandated to maintain Rs. 60 crore in capital. The others are limited-function brokers, required to uphold Rs. 20 crore. Among stock dealers, Citizen Stock Dealer and Nabil Stock Dealer are active, although a merger between the two appears improbable.
