KATHMANDU, Jan 10: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the country’s central bank, has started an enquiry against the banks that have been blamed for mounting undue pressure on the borrowers to clear their loans.
Of late, many banks have been publishing the details of large numbers of borrowers in the media and issuing notices to clear the credit amounts or face auction of their collaterals. Entrepreneurs, however, said despite having been paying the EMIs to the banks, they are facing such hassles from the banks.
Revised interest rate corridor system introduced
Gunakar Bhatta, spokesperson for NRB, said they have started asking the banks concerned for clarification amid growing complaints from the entrepreneurs against the banks. Bhatta said the NRB has received over 200 complaints against the banks. According to him, the regulator has sent letters to 14 commercial banks asking them not to auction the borrowers’ property until the cases are ‘really serious’.
Earlier, a group of entrepreneurs had taken to NIC Asia Bank complaining about the unnecessary pressure given by the bank’s officials to borrowers to settle the loan amount earlier than the date of loan maturity. They even criticized NRB for failing to implement its own policy that talks about providing relief to the entrepreneurs hit hard by the COVID-19.
Mostly, entrepreneurs related to tourism and other service sector business are reported to be harassed by a number of commercial banks and pressurized to pay their loans back before the date of maturity.
