Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) Chairman Rewat Bahadur Karki on Friday said there was a need for enhancing capacity of different stakeholders of the capital market.

Weak capacity of human resources at Nepal Stock Exchange, brokerage companies and merchant banks, according to Karki, has prevented the system from producing desired results.

He made these comments after inaugurating the new office of Kriti Capital & Investments, a five-year-old merchant banker, which currently manages assets worth over Rs450 million of around 140 clients, in Kathmandu.

“We are focusing on building capacity of different stakeholders and carrying out effective monitoring to regulate the market,” he said, adding, “Sebon, the securities market regulatory, was also focusing on attracting more investors to the capital market.”

Delivering this speech, Karki criticised stockbrokers for working as commission agents rather than professionals who help clients to make informed decisions.

He also urged merchant bankers to diversify their portfolio rather than concentrating solely on transaction of primary shares.

Kriti Capital Managing Director Deepesh Vaidya, on the other hand, blamed Sebon for failing to widen the scope for merchant banks. “Merchant bankers are keen to expand their trading platform, but the regulator should first extend the permission,” he said.