Banks yet to extend access in three local levels

KATHMANDU, August 23: Financial access has reached 750 local levels of the country. A study has shown that banks and financial institutions are yet to reach only three local levels in the country. With the expansion of the banks at the local level, financial access in Nepal has increased by 6.44 percent in one year.

A study conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank has shown that Nepal's financial access has reached 67.34 percent by mid-April 2021. Financial access was 60.9 percent as of last fiscal year. According to the study report, various financial indicators including the deposit account have shown that the situation of financial concentration and access in Nepal is improving.

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The central bank, which made the study public on Friday, said the study report was prepared on the basis of details of deposit accounts maintained in Class ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ financial institutions. The number of branches of 'A', 'B' and 'C' class banks has reached 5,978 by mid-April 2021. The number of deposit accounts has reached 36.366 million and the number of loan accounts has reached 1.682 million.

Natural persons accounted for 93.48 percent of the total deposit accounts. Of the total accounts opened in banks and financial institutions, 65.2 percent accounts of men and 72.3 percent of women are active. According to the study, 27.28 percent use ATM service and 6.48 percent use internet banking in the metropolis.

Similarly, there are 10.61 percent ATM users and 1.08 percent internet banking users in the rural municipalities. The number of mobile banking users per account is 33.36 percent in the rural municipalities.

The average number of branches of the bank serving 100,000 people is 18.98 percent. The highest number is 30.25 percent in Gandaki Province and the lowest is in Province 2 with 9.73 percent. The study has shown that the number of branches of banks and financial institutions serving 100,000 people in rural areas is 8.54 percent and in metropolitan cities it is 45.76 percent.