“We have plans to announce merger within this fiscal year and we have started preparations accordingly,” said Bishwas Gauchan, chairman of Shangri-La Development Bank. Gauchan, who is also the president of Bageshwori Development Bank, said the merger process will gain pace after both the banks get their merger plans approved by their respective annual general meetings.
Since most of the investors of are the same persons, the merge process is expected to be easies. Directors of both the banks said Nepal Rastra Bank has positively responded to the merger plan.
“We have plans to open development banks in eastern, western and mid-western region and merge them into a national level development bank. But we have not been able to open a development bank in eastern region due Nepal Rastra Bank´s provisions,” Gauchan said, adding, “If we became successful in opening banks in the eastern region, we will be able to expand our areas of interest in all prominent cities across the country.” He further informed that they had mooted the plan of forming a national level development bank ever since the Bageshwari Development Bank started operation.
“We have been working as per our seven-year plan. We first want to become number one development bank in regional level, upgrade it into a national level and develop it as a full-fledged commercial bank within seven years,” Gauchan revealed their expansion plan. He further added that they would mobilize capital from all the three development regions into productive sectors.
“Our initial focus will be on expanding operations outside the Valley. Almost all the branches of banks outside the Valley are making loss. But, we want to make our branches at local level profitable,” He added.
Shangri-La Development Bank, which started operation three years ago in Pokhara, operates with a network of 11 branches.
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