Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) called today for request for proposal from the three short-listed firms to become consultant and recommend business requirement specifications to implement its planned online trading system.

Daiwa Institute of Research, The International Securities Consultancy and Korea Exchange had submitted their expressions of interest to be the consultants in line with the Nepse’s plan to upgrade its trading system.

The three companies were shortlisted on the basis of their business strength including their annual turnover, number of their employees with them, goodwill in countries where they were doing their business, and their working status in various under developed countries, according to Nepse’s general manager Sitaram Thapaliya.

The consultant will assess the existing system and market scenario before recommending whether to upgrade the trading system to make it compatible with online trading or to completely replace it with a new one.

The Nepse has been under pressure to upgrade its trading system as the secondary market has seen an expansion in recent years.  The current system only allows electronic stock trading. The rest of the process has to be done manually. After the proposed automation system is implemented, investors will not have to visit the concerned stockbrokers even to book their buying and selling orders. In addition, it will also enable brokers to forwarding the necessary trading documents to the CDS and Clearing through online. The market has also been limited to the Kathmandu Valley as the current system is accessible only to traders in Kathmandu and selected cities.

Nepse will select one as a consultant from the three short-listed companies within a month. Nepse would consider the financial proposal of these companies for the next stage of selection, he said, adding that Nepse will hire one according to the Public Procurement Act through the bidding process. “The company selected through the bidding in the second stage will also provide a complete strategic plan for the capital market.”

The company will carry out the ‘gap analysis’ to find out the actual need for promoting the existing market to a complete online trading system,” he added.

The review committee had shortlisted the three from a total of 10 companies – Anukriti Management and Financial Consultant, Earnst and Young (Sri Lanka), Kocher Consultant, Nomura Research Institute Financial Technologies, PricewaterhouseCoopers (India), SRS Consulting, Tiger LLC, Daiwa Institute of Research, The International Securities Consultancy and Korea Exchange – proposed to become the consultant.
The stock exchange had invited consultants to submit their proposal for the first time in February. Since it was open only to Nepali companies, the three companies that had submitted their proposals were found to be ineligible according to the stock exchange’s criteria.

The Nepse, then published another notice asking for sealed proposal from qualified and eligible consultants to provide consultancy service to establish Fully Automated Online Trading System in April. The deadline had to be extended by two more weeks as Nepse did not receive applications from any eligible consultant.

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