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The Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) is going to make a new arrangement to allow stock brokerage companies to open branches within 15 days of the application. The stock market regulator is preparing to introduce a new policy by revoking the existing provisions related to the operation of the branch office of the brokerage firms. Sebon is in the process to grant permits to open branches within 15 days of receiving the application. Till now, there is no limit to granting permission for opening branches as the existing rules give discretionary power to Sebon to issue permits. As a result, the applications used to be pending for months and years at the board. According to Sebon Chairman Ramesh Hamal, a policy will be made to grant permission within 15 days of receiving the application for the branch opening. "Now brokerage companies don't have to wait for months and years to get permission to open branches like in the past. We have initiated a process to grant such permission within a short period," said Hamal, adding, "The process is in the final stage." According to Sebon, the branch opening process is being simplified to expand the share trading geographically. In his tenure, Hamal has already issued permits to 10 companies to open 16 branches last year. According to the board, the new provision will encourage brokerage companies to expand their branches to new places which will further expand the capital market in the country. In the current fiscal year, seven branches of four brokerage companies have come into operation outside the Kathmandu valley. The board had permitted the operation of branch offices outside the valley in all seven provinces of the country. As of now, 41 brokerage companies have opened 47 branches outside Kathmandu valley. About two years ago, brokerage companies applied to the board seeking permission to expand branches in about 200 locations in all seven provinces. However, the board has issued permits to only 10 brokerage firms to expand branches in 23 places. "Brokerage firms that have received in-principle approval for branch expansion were given time to prepare the infrastructure and most of the companies have already prepared the infrastructure," said Hamal. As per the third amendment of the Securities Businesspersons (Stock Broker, Securities Dealer and Market Maker) 2020, brokerage firms must ready all their infrastructure before receiving the final approval for branch office operations.  

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 1, 300 per tola in the domestic market on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 103, 600 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 104, 900 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 103, 100 per tola. It was traded at Rs 104, 400 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 30 and is being traded at Rs 1,290 per tola today.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 12.45 points to close at 2,182.63 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 1.42 points to close at 415. 42 points. A total of 5,648,212 unit shares of 257 companies were traded for Rs 2. 06 billion. Meanwhile, Barahi Hydropower Company Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 14 trillion.

With the economic slowdown impacting the income of general people, the insured are increasingly resorting to surrendering life insurance policies in recent years. According to life insurance companies, of the total policies they've sold, nine percent have been surrendered. Currently, there are 18 life insurance companies operating in Nepal. The companies have collected a total of Rs 71.65 billion in insurance premiums in the first six months of the current fiscal year 2022/23. However, insurers have surrendered Rs 6.08 billion during this period. As per the statistics of the Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA), 43,715 insurance policies were surrendered in the last six months. Generally, people buy life insurance for a certain period to get covered for the period. As per existing arrangements, the insured can surrender the policy they bought before maturity and take back the amount they paid to the insurers as premiums. Now, the trend of surrendering the policy before the maturity period is increasing, according to insurance companies. People surrendering the policy are paid the premium and bonus amount up to the date of surrender in a lump sum. Last year, NIA changed the arrangements barring buyers of life insurance policies from surrendering before settling the premium payments for three years. In the new rule, insurers cannot issue general life insurance policies for less than five years of maturity. NIA data shows 63,331 policies worth Rs 9.88 billion were surrendered in FY 2020/21. While the authority introduced a new provision to control the cancellation of the policies in FY 2021/22, the same year saw the number of policies surrendered increasing to 81,860 amounting to Rs 12.18 billion. NIA officials estimate if the policy surrender increases at this rate, the number will go up further in the current fiscal year. Insurers say that policy surrenders are basically due to the ongoing economic slump which has hit the income of general people. According to them, high-interest rates, and rising inflation have hit the common people hard, affecting their purchasing power. In most cases, the insured surrenders a life insurance policy to get rid of the burden of the premium amount to be paid to the insurers. An increase in the surrender rate this year could be due to an increased financial burden to the insured caused by increased interest rates of banks and soaring consumer prices, said analysts. According to Manoj Lal Karna, CEO of Union Life Insurance, people are surrendering policies to solve their financial problems. "The growth of the insurance business has been held back in the current fiscal year due to the economic slowdown. We are observing a surge in policy surrender," said Karna. According to him, there has been growth in the number of policies lapse. Policy lapse happens when people do not pay the installment of the premium within the specified time. The government records show that a total of 41 percent of the population now has access to insurance services. However, the case of surrendering the policies is also on the rise.