KATHMANDU, Dec 9:  Nepal Investment Bank Ltd (NIBL) has bagged the prestigious Financial Times, “Bank of the Year” international award 2016 for the fifth time.

Issuing a statement, the commercial bank said that its Chairman Prithivi Bahadur Pande and CEO Jyoti Prakash Pandey received the award in London on Wednesday.

In the last fiscal year, NIBL earned operating profit of Rs 4.14 billion compared to previous year's Rs 3.11 billion.

"NIBL's paid-up capital stands at Rs 8.71 billion with a core capital of Rs 16.3 Billion which is the highest amongst private banks," it said, adding, "NIBL has NPA of 0.68 percent as of mid-July 2016." NIBL is the first and so far the only private sector bank to meet the paid-up requirement of Rs 8 billion set by the Nepal Rastra Bank, according to the statement.