Banks avail services on Saturday

POKHARA, May 8:  Despite being a public holiday, banks and financial institutions in Pokhara opened on Saturday to provide services to its cash-strapped customers.

Banks and financial institutions had remained closed throughout the week due to the nationwide indefinite strike called by the Maoists.



The agitating Maoists had even prohibited their employees from going to their offices since Tuesday, while automated teller machines (ATM) were not in operation.

Standard Chartered Bank, Himalayan Bank, Global Bank, DCBL Bank, Viswa Bikas Bank, Shangri-La Development Bank, City Development Bank and Om Finance resumed their services on Saturday. Their staffs had even telephoned their customers to inform that their services were available on the day.[break]



“We called up our regular customers to inform them of our services and a lot of them who were not able to withdraw and deposit money for the last several days turned up,” said Buddhi Malla, general manager of Om Finance. The finance company, which had never availed its services public holidays, had opened four of its branches, including the central office, for the service.



Among them, most of the remittance transactions took place in Besi Sahar, Lamjung branch, according to Malla.



Because the closure of banking services had rendered many people broke, the rush to withdraw cash was bigger than those who wanted to deposit, said bankers. They opined that this trend will go on for a week. Customers, who suffered from the lack of hard cash, expressed happiness that they were able to get banking and financial services even on Saturday.



Banks that provide services 365 days a year operated for the whole day, instead of the regular Saturday schedule of 10 am to 1 pm. Those that do not regularly operate on a Saturday were open from 10 am to 2 pm.



There was a big rush of people who came to get remittances sent to the banks and financial institutions over the week. “We were in trouble when we could not get the money our relatives sent us from abroad,” said a customer of Om Finance, adding “when we got a phone call that the finance company was open we came and received it.”



Officials of Global bank said the bank witnessed four-fold rise in transactions on Saturday. However, as the central bank did not open ´clearance´ transaction, some customers returned their clearance check and took cash, said Mahendra Karki, operation in-charge of Global Bank.



Those who had taken loans from banks and financial institutions also were able to pay their regular interest on Saturday.

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