Why there is delay in refunding money of Nepal SBI Bank auctioned share? SEBON must mull over this issue

Nepal SBI Bank Limited (SBI) had auctioned its 4,69,052.60 units ordinary right share to the general public from Shrawan 9, 2074 till Shrawan 16, 2074. The bid was opened on Shrawan 17,2074 at 3:30 PM. NMB Capital Limited has been assigned as the issue manager for this auction. Its been 12 days of bid opening day and the company has not published any notice to refund excess money to the bidders. As per SEBON guidelines, the auctioned shared will be refunded only 3 days after the allotment. As of today, notice of auction refund has not yet published in the newspaper. It seems that allotment of auctioned shares of Nepal SBI bank is yet to done by the BOD of the bank. The bank’s BOD meeting need to approve the allotment of the auctioned shares. As per the official of NMB Capital, “the allotment of the shares will most probably took place on Shrawan 30, 2074,” The issue managers also don’t provide interest on the money—which has created a huge inconvenience to investors.The Securities Issue and Allotment Guidelines 2074 also does not have a concrete time frame as to when the auctioned shares should be allotted. SEBON need to have concrete time frame for allotment also. Some company does allotment on the very next day of bid opening day and some takes even 15-20 days time. This loophole in the regulation has allowed companies to continue generate interest on the money bid by investors, while investors are left with nothing in return. Regulatory authorities should also draw their attention towards fixing such loopholes for the betterment of capital market. Earlier, approx 1634 applicants have submitted their bids for 4.69 lakh units ordinary shares. The cutoff price for ordinary auctioned shares stood at Rs 902.3. The highest bid amount received was Rs 1011. Jagadamba Steels applied for 1.5 lakh units shares at Rs 917 and Asian Life Insurance Company Limted (ALICL) grabbed 50,000 units. LTP of SBI stood Rs 920 as of 29th Shrawan, 2074 (today).