Nepse postpones brokers' licance exam

Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) at the last hour, yesterday postponed the scheduled-exam for the brokers licence.
After a long controversy and brainstorming the Nepse had decided to add 27 more brokers to the current 23 brokers to make the total number to 50. "The increase in brokers' number would have helped capital market to be more disciplined," said an official at the regulatory authority of the capital market, Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON).
For a long time, due to the limited number of the brokers small investors were finding it difficult to transact in the secondary market as the brokers did not use to enjoy small number of shares.
Nepse had received 334 applications for the brokers' licence exam that was scheduled for yesterday but the secondary market issued an urgent notice yesterday morning stating that the exam has been postponed until further notice. The Constituent Assembly election is blamed for the postponement however Nepse is certain to loose its credibility due to its failure in holding exam.
Agrees one official at the Nepse. "We were forced to put off the exam," he said without elaborating.

71 firms 'A' rated
KATHMANDU: The total number of companies under the category 'A' listed at Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) has now been reached 71.
Nepse promoted nine companies due to their better performance and compliance with the existing rules. All the nine enterprises are development banks, insurance and finance companies, which portrays a rosy picture of the financial sector, according to a Nepse statement.
Chhimek Development Bank, Business Development Bank, Sanima Development Bank, Sahayogi Development Bank, Nepal Insurance Company, Annapurna Finance, Everest Finance, Prudential Finance and Bhajuratna Finance and Savings are the companies that are upgraded to category 'A'.
Their advancement means that they have earned a profit during the last three fiscal years, have a shareholder base of more than 1,000, a paid-up capital of over Rs 20 million and the value of their shares is not less than the book value.

Likewise, they have also had their financial statements audited within six months of the successive fiscal year, which is one of the major criteria for upgradation.
However, during the same period, four companies namely Paschimanchal Development Bank, Prudential Insurance, Fewa Finance and Union Finance were demoted from 'A' category to 'B' for failing to fulfil the requirements.
With the nine newcomers and four losing their status standing, the number of A category listed companies at Nepse stands at 71. There were 66 companies in this class during the previous fiscal year. Among the total 71 A-rated firms, 12 are commercial banks, eight are development banks, 11 deal in insurance, 38 are finance companies and two are related to manufacturing and hydropower.
Nepse further states that category 'A' companies now account for 55.75 per cent of the total paid-up capital of the listed companies. They account for 50.88 per cent of the shares and 79.41 per cent of the market capitalisation of all the listed companies.
At present, the shares of 144 companies are traded at Nepse.