Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) launched online stock trading from Sunday, allowing investors to place buy and sell orders via internet. 

This achievement is a milestone in development of the country’s budding secondary market.

With the new facility in place, investors now do not need to visit brokerage firms or call brokers to post their orders.

Sebon’s Chairman Rewat Bahadur Karki inaugurated the system on Sunday. Karki launched the partial online trading system by posting his orders via Crystal Kanchanjangha Securities. 

In order to use the online platform, investors will have to acquire a login identification and password from brokerage firms. Once they have done so, investors can post their orders to purchase or sell shares to concerned brokers. 

The system is expected to make investors familiar with the full online trading platform that Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) has planned to introduce from the next fiscal year. “The system will make investors familiar with the technology associated with online trading,” Priya Raj Regmi, president of the Stock Broker Association of Nepal, said. 

At present, investors have to either visit a brokerage firm in person or call the brokers to post their transaction orders. 

With the new online platform in place, investors can now instantly post orders from their current locations while brokers can maintain electronic record of orders made by their clients. 

Regmi said the system would simplify the process of stock trading. “The stockbrokers who used to call or text to place orders are now looking forward to taking online orders from their clients,” said Regmi, adding, stockbrokers were receiving a lot of queries from their clients regarding the new interface. 

Sebon’s Deputy Spokesperson Niranjaya Ghimire said few stockbrokers had already started receiving orders through the online platform. “The number is expected to grow shortly,” Ghimire said. According to him, the regulator has already sent circular to all 50 brokerage firms to implement the system.