The Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) has directed Nepal Life Insurance and Forward Community Microfinance to settle their share allotment process by February 24. 

Saying that the ongoing liquidity shortage has also hit the secondary market, the capital market regulator issued the directive on Thursday.

Recently, Nepal Life Insurance has recently issued further public offering (FPO) while Forward has called for application for its initial public offering (IPO). The issuance of shares from these companies have collected more than Rs55 billion from over 370,000 investors.

The big chunk of money stuck in the shares of Nepal Life and Forward Community has been pointed out as one of the major factors for the present liquidity shortage. The downswing in stock market has also been blamed for the situation. 

Nepal Stock Exchange index on Thursday plunged below 1,300 points, posting an 11-month low capital market indicator.