The government has ordered Rastriya Banijya Bank, Agricultural Development Bank and Nepal Bank to reopen their branch offices which were displaced during the decade-long conflict.
Prompted by pressure from lawmakers to make banking services available in their constituencies, the Finance Ministry told these banks with large government stakes to compulsorily reinstate th-eir branches in places where there is no private sector presence. “They have been told to reopen their branch offices even in places where there are private banks if demand for banking services is high,” said Krishna Prasad Devkota, joint secretary at the Finance Ministry.
According to him, the chief executive officers of the banks were summoned to the ministry and informed of the government directive.
Although financial access has increased due to the spread of bank branches, cooperatives and micro fina-nce institutions, there are still many people in remote areas without access to finance. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), banks and financial institutions have opened 12.13 million deposit accounts and maintain 2,541 branches as of mid-February 2014.
Meanwhile, banks said that they had launched a branch office expansion drive even before the government issued the directive to spread out. They added that they had been receiving intense pressure from the general public to reopen their branches after peace was restored in the country. Rastriya Banijya Bank Chief Executive Officer Krishna Prasad Sharma said that they had started implementing their expansion plan prior to the government order.
“So far, we have re-established 36 branches and operated branchless banking services at nine places in regions from where our branches were displaced,” said Sharma. The country’s largest bank Rastriya Banijya Bank had been forced to shut down 100 branches during the Maoist conflict. “We plan to re-establish branches in 15 areas and branchless banking services in 20 areas this fiscal year,” he said. “We have already established three this year.”
Meanwhile, the central bank has also already directed Rastriya Banijya Bank and Nepal Bank to increase their lending considering the massive credit-to-deposit ratio. “The central bank’s directive also encouraged us to go for expanding branches and provide banking services,” said Sharma.
Chief of the management team at Nepal Bank Mahesh-wor Lal Shrestha said they were conducting a study to determine whether it would be feasible to reopen the remaining branches in conflict-hit areas following the government’s directive.
According to him, the bank has opened two dozen branches in areas from where they had been removed during the conflict. The bank had been forced to relocate 56 branches at that time.
source: the kathmandu post,15 april 2014
LINK
Prompted by pressure from lawmakers to make banking services available in their constituencies, the Finance Ministry told these banks with large government stakes to compulsorily reinstate th-eir branches in places where there is no private sector presence. “They have been told to reopen their branch offices even in places where there are private banks if demand for banking services is high,” said Krishna Prasad Devkota, joint secretary at the Finance Ministry.
According to him, the chief executive officers of the banks were summoned to the ministry and informed of the government directive.
Although financial access has increased due to the spread of bank branches, cooperatives and micro fina-nce institutions, there are still many people in remote areas without access to finance. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), banks and financial institutions have opened 12.13 million deposit accounts and maintain 2,541 branches as of mid-February 2014.
Meanwhile, banks said that they had launched a branch office expansion drive even before the government issued the directive to spread out. They added that they had been receiving intense pressure from the general public to reopen their branches after peace was restored in the country. Rastriya Banijya Bank Chief Executive Officer Krishna Prasad Sharma said that they had started implementing their expansion plan prior to the government order.
“So far, we have re-established 36 branches and operated branchless banking services at nine places in regions from where our branches were displaced,” said Sharma. The country’s largest bank Rastriya Banijya Bank had been forced to shut down 100 branches during the Maoist conflict. “We plan to re-establish branches in 15 areas and branchless banking services in 20 areas this fiscal year,” he said. “We have already established three this year.”
Meanwhile, the central bank has also already directed Rastriya Banijya Bank and Nepal Bank to increase their lending considering the massive credit-to-deposit ratio. “The central bank’s directive also encouraged us to go for expanding branches and provide banking services,” said Sharma.
Chief of the management team at Nepal Bank Mahesh-wor Lal Shrestha said they were conducting a study to determine whether it would be feasible to reopen the remaining branches in conflict-hit areas following the government’s directive.
According to him, the bank has opened two dozen branches in areas from where they had been removed during the conflict. The bank had been forced to relocate 56 branches at that time.
source: the kathmandu post,15 april 2014
LINK
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