KATHMANDU: Himalayan Bank Ltd (HBL) has announced the new release of its e-commerce payment gateway.

Merchants and customers, both domestic and international, will now be able to buy and sell products and services online using their debit or credit cards, as per a press release.

The bank has been providing this service to merchants in Nepal since January 2015 catering to international cardholders.

The Nepal government used Himalayan Bank’s e-commerce gateway in 2015 to receive donations from abroad for the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

Almost $93,500 was collected through HBL e-commerce. Partnering with 2C2P Thailand, one of the most renowned e-commerce payment service providers in Asia Pacific, the bank’s e-commerce payment gateway has been enhanced to include domestic cardholders.

E-commerce (electronic commerce) enables the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers through an electronic medium. Local business houses using the bank’s payment gateway are able to easily and safely sell their products both domestically and internationally, making it much more convenient for the merchant as well as the customer.

The e-commerce payment gateway already accepts all Visa and MasterCard branded cards. American Express, JCB and UPI cards will soon be integrated.

The bank has already implemented 3D secure authentication protocol that is designed to be an additional security layer for online e-commerce transactions using credit and debit cards issued by the bank.