Share broker applicants stage a demonstration in front of Nepal Stock...

The process of appointing new stock brokers, which was about to begin, at the country's sole secondary market has once again faced setback due to the recent resignation of General Manager of Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) Shanker Man Singh from his post.

Nepse had sometime back halted the process of appointing new stockbrokers after SEBON -- the stock market regulator -- initiated investigation on alleged irregularities in the appointment process.

Nepse and the SEBON have been at loggerheads over the appointment of 27 new stockbrokers.

Officials of SEBON and Nepse have also been airing contrasting views on the appointment process.

Singh, who was on the verge of initiating the process, was also the coordinator of a four-member broker selection committee. He submitted his resignation citing the threats from unknown group.

More strange is the fact that the finance ministry has expressed that it is unknown about the resignation of Singh.

The actual truth behind his resignation is also yet to come to the light.

Even though the process of appointing new stock brokers was started some three years back, it has continued to become more complex and cumbersome due to various controversies.

The process faced legal problems like intervention by Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and petitions against it at the Supreme Court.

Despite the promises that the appointment process will go ahead smoothly after the new leadership in Nepse and SEBON and government's approval towards the process, the issue is getting more and more compounded.

The stock market currently has been confined to 23 brokers and the process was launched to add new 27 brokers to take the total number to 50. Previously, the total number of stock brokers was 32.

Though the volume of secondary market has significantly increased over one and a half decades, the number of stockbrokers has not been increased in the same ratio.

Due to this mismatch, small investors are also facing tough time to enjoy access to the capital market. nepalnews.com