January 9: Five candidates have been shortlisted for the post of chief executive officer (CEO) of Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Ltd in the first phase. 
According to the recommendation committee, it shortlisted top five candidates on the basis of the evaluation of nearly a dozen applications that it had received for the post of Nepse's CEO.  The committee was formed under Ramesh KC, a joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance, to recommend the new CEO of the company that operates the only stock exchange market in the country. Ritesh Shakya, another joint secretary of the ministry, and Jivanath Dhital, an expert on securities market, were other members of  former chairman of Nepse are members of the committee.
Nepse's acting CEO Niranjan Phuyal, Prabin Pandak, Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai, Ramesh Ghimire, Chabi Raj Panta, Govinda Dahal, Keshav Prasad Shrestha, Badri Prasad Pyakurel, Jiban Amagain, Krishna Bahadur Karki and Dipak Gautam had applied for the post of CEO.
Krishna Bahadur Karki, Keshav Prasad Shrestha, Pravin Pandak, Ramesh Ghimire and Ramesh Kumar Bhandari in the first phase.  The committee is set to recommend three names for the selection of the CEO following their presentation of working paper before the recommendation plan. The presentation is scheduled to be held today. 
Based on the recommended three names, the cabinet will pick the new Nepse CEO for a tenure of four years. The post had fallen vacant after the then CEO Chandra Singh Saud stepped down from his post amid his involvement in insider trade of shares in Sarbottam Cement prior to its IPO.