Commercial Banks taking unusually long time for listing the bonus shares; What might be the reason? How will stock market react to the inflow of more than 20 crore unit bonus shares after listing?

-Puskar Shrestha Bonus shares are one of the main factors that the investors consider while making investment in the shares of any company. The commercial banks are considered as the blue chip companies in the Nepalese market because of the better monitoring institution and the consistency of the business performed. After the introduction of new direction of Nepal Rastra Bank to maintain the minimum paid up capital of the commercial banks at 8 arba, the banks have issued rights and bonuses. The investors had also shown interest in the scrip of commercial banks owing to the bonus shares they could receive. But, the things have not turned out to the plans of the shareholders of commercial banks.

S.No	Name	Bonus Share%	Bonus Amount in Rs	AGM Date	Listed Date	Difference
						Till Listed Date	Till today (Chaitra 7)
1	Agriculture Development Bank	20	1.41 arba	Magh 29, 2074	Not listed	-	37 days
2	Century Commercial Bank Limited	5	38.38 crore	Falgun 30, 2074	Not listed	-	7 days
3	Citizens Bank International Limited	16	1.10 arba	Ashwin 9, 2074	Not listed	-	177 days
4	Everest Bank Limited	33	2.01 arba	Magh 1, 2074	Not listed	-	65 days
5	Global IME Bank Limited	10	80.8 crore	Kartik 23, 2074	Magh 14, 2074	80 days	-
6	Himalayan Bank Limited	25	1.62 arba	Poush 28,2074	Not listed	-	68 days
7	Janata Bank Limited	14.4	1.02 arba	Poush 28, 2074	Not listed	-	68 days
8	Laxmi Bank Limited	10	74 crore	Mangsir 28, 2074	Magh 14, 2074	45 days	-
9	Machhapuchchhre Bank Limited	9	66 crore	Mangsir 15, 2074	Not listed	-	110 days
10	Nabil Bank Limited	30	1.85 arba	Ashwin 10, 2074	Poush 25, 2074	105 days	-
11	Nepal Bangladesh Bank Limited	12	86.64 crore	Mangsir 3, 2074	Not listed	-	122 days
12	Nepal  Investment Bank Limited	15	1.386 arba	Kartik 7, 2074	Not listed	-	148 days
13	Nepal SBI Bank Limited	15.42	1.07 arba	Poush 20, 2074	Not listed	-	76 days
14	NIC Asia Bank Limited	20	1.34 arba	Bhadra 30, 2074	Poush 3, 2074	94 days	-
15	Prime Commercial Bank Limited	27	1.7064 arba	Poush 25, 2074	Not listed	-	71 days
16	Sanima Bank Limited	16	1.1024 arba	Ashwin 29, 2074	Poush 25, 2074	86 days	-
17	Siddhartha Bank Limited	14	95.48 crore	Chaitra 4, 2074	Not listed	-	3 days
18	Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Limited	100	4.01 arba	Poush 26, 2074	Not listed	-	70 days
19	Sunrise Bank Limited	15	1.06 arba	Poush 3, 2074	Not listed	-	93 days
20	Mega Bank Nepal Limited	9.45	69.64 crore	not conducted	NA	NA	NA

Among the 28 commercial banks, only 20 banks have announced bonus shares for the shareholders. This might not seem like a matter of concern but the time that the listing of the bonus shares have been taking is the main concern for the shareholders. Out of the 28 commercial banks, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Bank of Kathmandu, NMB Bank, Civil Bank, Kumari Bank, NCC Bank, Nepal Bank and Prabhu Bank have not proposed bonus dividends for their shareholders. Among the 20 banks that have announced bonus shares, 19 of the banks have completed their AGM. And out of them, the bonus shares of only 5 banks have been listed. The non-listing of bonus shares implies blocked amount for many shareholders. If we consider the market’s condition today, the shareholders have lost a huge sum of money just from the shares being not listed. The trend of the share when the bonus was announced does not match with the current market price. As per the directives issued by Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), the financial institutions after endorsing bonus share from its AGM should apply within 30 days of the announcement to the proper authority for the listing of the shares. So, there arises a huge question. Is the delay in listing of bonus shares because of the commercial banks themselves? or Is Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) responsible for this? After the bonus shares have been listed, a massive 19.94 crore unit shares of Rs 19.94 arba will be introduced in the stock market. This might not be good news for the already bearish market as the supply for the shares will be huge compared to the demand of the market. So, will the stock market decline more with the introduction of the huge bonus share? This will be known only after the listing of the bonus shares have been made. However, anyone taking the blame is not going to help the shareholders and is not going to bring back the lost profit. But the supervising body along with the respective banks need to be more responsible and answerable towards the shareholders.