Kathmandu, January 11:

Global Bank Ltd, which has already opened its main office at Birgunj, is all set to unveil the Kathmandu branch office on January 15, aiming to greatly boost Nepali people’s access to banking facilities.

There is a need to inculcate banking habit in a large segment of people who have remained beyond the pale of such facilities, Suman Neupane, CEO of the bank said in an exclusive interview to The Himalayan Times. According to a rough estimate, less than 10 per cent people undertake banking transactions out of a population of about 27 million.

Global Bank intends to reach out to the sections of the society that have remained beyond the reach of banks, creating new markets and instruments in the process, says Neupane.

Global Bank, with a view to reach out to hitherto unreachable borrowers, intends to invest in big and small projects, Neupane said. At the same time, the management would focus on total quality management, giving equal importance to providing loans and monitoring, he said. “We have to have a communication back up from the state to fully serve customers at a larger scale as the management is all set to bring in latest technology to offer best and fast services to people,” he informed. “What is important is that technology needs to be used ‘effectively and properly’ to the maximum capacity to reap maximum benefits.”

Local strategies would be implemented fulfilling the dreams of people who aspire to be depositors and want to have a capital for investment, he said.

He thinks that infrastructure sector holds tremendous potentials for investment. The areas of investments are hydropower, roads, aviation, schools, hospitals and tourism. “Despite small and medium enterprises having contributed immensely to the national domestic product, the situation is getting fragile, thanks to the lack of capital, weak policy support and weak management.”

Bankers like Neupane also see huge potential in investing in SMEs these days. “We need to care about depositors while running the bank. While investing in the projects, viability of the projects would be studied seriously,” said Neupane.

The bank charges four per cent interest on global savings while interest rates for fixed deposits ranges from three to five per cent based depending on period. The bank’s loans products include short-term, long team, home loans, auto loans, educational loans, mortgage loans and hire purchase loans. It’s paid-up capital stands at one billion rupees while issued capital stands at two billion. NRB has given a one-year time to float shares to the public from the date of operations.