The government has shortlisted four candidates for the position of chairperson of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), the country’s securities market regulator.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the shortlisted candidates are Nabaraj Adhikari, Binaya Dev Acharya, Mukunda Kumar Chhetri, and Gopal Prasad Bhatta. One among them will be appointed as the new head of SEBON. The candidates have been invited for interviews scheduled for Friday.
A three-member recommendation committee led by Sanjay Acharya, member of the National Planning Commission (NPC), carried out the first phase of the selection process. The committee also includes Finance Secretary Ghanshyam Upadhyay and former banker Bhuvan Kumar Dahal.
Among the shortlisted candidates, Nabaraj Adhikari previously served as executive director of SEBON, while Binaya Dev Acharya currently holds the same position. Adhikari had earlier competed for the chairperson’s post before the government appointed Santosh Narayan Shrestha. Meanwhile, Mukunda Kumar Chhetri and Gopal Prasad Bhatta are former executive directors of Nepal Rastra Bank.
The recommendation committee had opened applications on April 13 and received a total of 47 applications for the post. Earlier, National Planning Commission Vice-chairperson Gunakar Bhatta resigned as coordinator of the recommendation committee after concerns over conflict of interest emerged, as his cousin Gopal Prasad Bhatta was also competing for the position.
The SEBON chairperson’s post has remained vacant since the resignation of former chair Santosh Narayan Shrestha. Shrestha stepped down amid growing pressure related to a money laundering investigation involving businessman Deepak Bhatta, in which his name had also surfaced.
