KATHMANDU, Sept 16: Commercial banks have further reduced deposit interest rates for the month of Ashoj (mid-September to mid-October). The average interest rate on personal fixed deposits at 20 commercial banks has decreased by 0.15 percentage points in Ashoj compared to Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September).

KATHMANDU, July 19: A massive global IT failure on Friday caused widespread disruptions, grounding planes, interrupting TV coverage, and affecting banks, hospitals, and financial markets. The failure led to flight delays worldwide, card machine breakdowns, a pause in news updates from the London Stock Exchange, and Sky News going off air.

KATHMANDU, June 8: Commercial banks of Nepal have injected 78 percent of their investment in the government bonds.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that work-related stress costs global businesses approximately $300 billion annually in lost productivity.

KATHMANDU, March 17: The contribution of credit flow from the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to the economic growth of the country has not been spectacular though its volume is equivalent to the gross domestic product (GDP).

KATHMANDU, Feb 19: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the government has made legal arrangements to address the problems arising from the same individual or group owning both businesses and banks.

KATHMANDU, Feb 7: The loans extended by banks and financial institutions to the private sector increased by 4.9 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

Despite lowering their interest rates, banks are unable to increase their lending due to low demand for loans amid low business confidence triggered by the ongoing economic slowdown. Bankers have said that the demand for loans has not increased as expected. They have attributed this to the low confidence in the business sector and the problems of cash flow that banks are facing as a result of their non-performing assets.

KATHMANDU, Feb 4: Despite lowering their interest rates, banks are unable to increase their lending due to low demand for loans amid low business confidence triggered by the ongoing economic slowdown.

KATHMANDU, Jan 16: Majority of commercial banks have reduced their base interest rate to single digit after having an excessive amount of loanable funds with them.

KATHMANDU, Jan 14: Except NMB and Everest Bank, all commercial banks in the country have reduced the maximum interest rate on deposits. Banks have reduced the interest on savings, which has a share of 26.3 percent, as well as fixed deposits, which has a share of 60.7 percent in their total deposit.

KATHMANDU, Dec 17: The government has imposed restrictions on strikes in 25 essential services.

KATHMANDU, Dec 9: Senior leader of Nepali Congress (NC) Dr Shekhar Koirala has accused banks of being the biggest loan sharks.

KATHMANDU, Dec 2: Banks are contemplating to lower the interest rates on loans further as the sector has a surplus amount of loanable funds with them.

KATHMANDU, Nov 12: Private sector lending by Nepali banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased by Rs 109.03 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year.

KATHMANDU, Oct 29: A total of Rs 76 billion was mobilized out of the country’s banking system for Dashain and other festivals.

KATHMANDU, Sept 20: A total of 8,849 individuals and firms were blacklisted in the first two months of the current fiscal year, on charge of check bounce and defaulting bank loans.

KATHMANDU, Sept 18: A number of banks have raised their interest rates for the months of mid-September and mid-October despite the banks being reported to have sufficient loanable funds amid slow demand for loans.

KATHMANDU, September 2: Banks in Nepal have significantly expanded their investments in real estate loans. In the past fiscal year, commercial banks collectively invested over Rs 217 billion in real estate, as per the latest data from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

In FY 2022/23, banks earned net profits of Rs 70.17 billion, while they can distribute their shareholders only Rs 31.90 billion in dividend.

With the introduction of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the 1960s, the banking industry took its first step toward automation. In Nepal, ATMs were first introduced in 1995 by Himalayan Bank Limited. Following ATMs, banks began to computerize their offices, reducing the need for physical information records.

Commercial banks are overwhelmed with an increasing liquidity

KATHMANDU, July 7: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has directed banks and financial institutions to extend Saturday services for the next two weeks in view of the closure of the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2022/23.

KATHMANDU, April 11: While Nepali banks have been piled up with an excess amount of loanable funds, they are unable to increase investment due to low demand for credit caused by exorbitant interest rates.

KATHMANDU, April 8: The deposit collection by the commercial banks increased Rs 34 billion in the past three weeks.

KATHMANDU, April 3: Nepali commercial banks have taken loans of Rs 59.17 billion from foreign companies in the past five years.

KATHMANDU, March 30: Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) on Thursday said the bad debts of banks are likely to increase significantly in the future.

KATHMANDU, March 18: Commercial banks of the country earned profits of over Rs 39.39 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

KATHMANDU, Feb 16: Commercial banks collected deposits worth Rs 25 billion in the past one month between mid-January and mid-February.

The survey reports of the private sector unveil a bleak picture of the economy. Manufacturers of construction materials are operating at 30 percent of their capacity, consumption of essentials has gone down by 18 percent and restaurants’ business by 20 percent, among others. These provide some evidence of how the economy is affected.

KATHMANDU, Dec 12: The Nepal Rastra Bank’s (NRB) Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari on Monday said that the liquidity problem in the country’s banking system has gradually been solved.

KATHMANDU, Dec 8: The government in a bid to implement the hedging rule has asked the banks concerned to submit their business plans.

KATHMANDU, Dec 7: Nepali banks have started receiving some respite in their liquidity position with an increased deposit collection recently.

KATHMANDU, Nov 29: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has taken action against a number of commercial banks found involved in misconduct in their daily operations.

KATHMANDU, Nov 22: Twenty six commercial banks of Nepal collected deposits of Rs 16 billion in one month between mid-October and mid-November, giving some respite to the Nepali banking sector, which has been struggling to maintain their liquidity position.

KATHMANDU, Nov 15: Nepali commercial banks have decided not to increase interest rates for next one month citing the current situation in the country’s financial market and soaring inflation.

KATHMANDU, Nov 10: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has requested all its chapters to stop the protest against the high interest rates. Keeping in mind that the House of Representatives and provincial assembly elections are going to be held on November 20, the FNCCI has requested all province chapters and member organizations to suspend the currently ongoing protest programs.

KATHMANDU, Nov 7: Deposit collection by the commercial banks in the country increased by Rs 21 billion last week, while the lending amount declined by Rs 1 billion during the period.

KATHMANDU, Nov 1: The nonperforming loans (NPL) of Nepali commercial banks have increased by a notable amount in the first three months of the current fiscal year, after the borrowers failed to pay back the banks’ loans on time due to excessive interest rates.

KATHMANDU, Nov 1: The new lending rates adopted by the commercial banks of the country that came into effect on Tuesday, October 18, demonstrate a rise from those employed previously. Creditors now have to pay as much as 18 percent interest rate for the money they borrow from banks. With soaring inflation and depleting foreign reserves, the increase in the lending rates reflects a liquidity crisis in the country that does not seem to have de-escalated with time.

KATHMANDU, Oct 22: Commercial banks collected additional deposits of Rs 61.64 billion last month, while they lent additional Rs 30.04 billion during the period.

KATHMANDU, OCT 15: Commercial banks are likely not to raise the interest rate on their deposit collection in the next month after the recently increased interest rate failed to attract the deposit collection.

KATHMANDU, Sept 24: The Credit to Deposit (CD) ratio with banks has come down to 87.30 percent from over the threshold of 90 percent a few weeks ago.

KATHMANDU, Sept 22: Banks have been facing widespread criticism from people from different quarters after they raised the interest rates.

KATHMANDU, Sept 15: Nepali commercial banks will be raising their interest rates on fixed deposits after the Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) decided not to intervene in the banks to fix their interest rates.

KATHMANDU, Sept 7: The government is extending the timeline allowing banks to consider up to 80 percent of the reserve funds of local governments in their deposit by another six months, citing the deepening liquidity crisis with the banks.

KATHMANDU, Sept 3: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari said the liquidity crisis with banks can be corrected only with an improvement in the country’s balance of payments (BoP) position and government’s increased expenses on a periodic basis.

KATHMANDU, August 7: Commercial banks have agreed on not revising the interest rate until mid-October, citing the rules recently enforced by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

KATHMANDU, August 6: Nepali commercial banks increased their net profit by 23.14 percent in the last fiscal year as compared to that of the amount in 2020/21 despite facing shortage of loanable funds for almost a year.

KATHMANDU, August 3: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has removed the ceiling on the cash dividends that the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) provide to their shareholders.