Kathmandu, April 30

Prime Commercial Bank Ltd has started joint operations after acquiring Biratlaxmi Development Bank and Country Development Bank from today. The class ‘A’ financial institution has set up its new head office in Kamalpokhari along with starting the joint operation. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Chiranjibi Nepal inaugurated the joint operation and the new corporate office of the bank.

After the acquisition of the two financial institutions, the paid-up capital of Prime Commercial Bank stands at Rs 6.32 billion. As per the central bank’s requirement, class ‘A’ financial institutions have to raise their paid-up capital to Rs eight billion by the end of this fiscal year.

After the acquisition of the two development banks, Prime Commercial Bank now has a total of 55 branches with total deposit collection of Rs 59.69 billion against credit flow worth Rs 54.98 billion, according to the bank.

Inaugurating the joint operation, NRB Governor Nepal urged the bank to expand financial outreach to the rural areas. The governor further said that banks should issue more credit to the productive sector to make the country self reliant in various products, which will not only generate jobs in the country but also contribute to minimising the ballooning trade gap.

Citing the highest growth that the country is going to achieve in this fiscal as per data of Central Bureau of Statistics, Governor Nepal said that the country could easily have touched double digit growth if government spending had also been robust since the beginning of this fiscal. The government’s treasury surplus is around Rs 233 billion and banks are running out of funds to issue loans, as per Nepal.

Anil Keshary Shah, chairman of Nepal Bankers’ Association and CEO of Mega Bank, said that the banking sector in the country is better regulated, transparent and more resilient. “More could be done by the banking industry itself to further strengthen the financial system,” he added.