Central Depository System in 3 Months

If all goes well, draft regulations for introducing Central Depository Scheme (CDS) will be ready and also approved by the Finance Ministry in three months, that is by mid-August. CDS is a clearing and settlement system used in the stock exchanges across the world. Under CDS, the current practice of holding and moving the scrip of quoted shares physically will be replaced by a safe and dependable computerised book entry system. "We are in the final stage of drafting regulations for CDS. If everything goes as planned, it will take three months for the Finance Ministry to approve the regulations," said Niraj Giri, Director, Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon). "When investors trade under CDS, there will be no need for delivery and receipt of physical certificates," he said adding that all the physical scrips of the companies listed on the stock exchange will be recorded centrally, and investors will have CDS accounts which will show their holdings.