June 13: Dr. Chiranjivi Nepal, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has emphasized on opening new branches in every local level if we are to establish commercial banks.

Governor Nepal requested the private commercial banks to open branches in local level as government owned banks are only located in 249 places so far.

Speaking at the function of start joint transaction of the Century Bank after acquiring Innovative Development Bank and Araniko Development Bank on June 11, he said the country has gone under federalism and since the government budget will also be spent in local level, the expansion of branches will prove to be beneficial in the future.

He also informed about the NRB’s plan of preparing a specially designed manual for bank operators with little or no knowledge of banking.

Understanding the source of money is more important than only recognizing money, he said, adding, “BAFIA law has also specified the bank operator’s qualifications”. He also claimed that the banks have started reducing the number of board members after NRB fixed its limit.

Congratulating Century Bank for acquiring Innovative Development Bank and Araniko Development Bank, he said that mergers and acquisitions are crucial nowadays. Investing the public’s money irresponsibly is the major cause of problems.  Sixteen problematic banks with various issues are now recovering slowly, he added.

Dr. Rewat Bahadur Karki, Chairman of Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) suggested employees of banks to continuously perform well.

After the acquisition, Century Bank’s paid up capital has increased to Rs. 4.71 billion, Deposits to Rs. 38.5 billion and loans to Rs. 35 billion and will have a total of 53 branches.

 The Bank will issue 40 percent right shares to the shareholders after merger.  

The Bank has also decided to merge with Sagarmatha Finance, Alpine Development Bank and Seti Finance within July, 2017, informed Rajesh Shrestha, CEO of the bank.  He added that the bank will easily achieve the goal of increasing the paid up capital to Rs. 8 billion after the issuance of rights shares.