KATHMANDU, AUGUST 2
Over the past several years, Global IME Bank Limited has quietly built one of the more extensive corporate social responsibility portfolios among Nepal's commercial banks, spanning education, health, financial literacy, disaster relief and environmental conservation. Bank records show the institution has carried out more than 220 CSR activities across the country, touching all seven provinces, from Kathmandu Metropolitan City to remote rural municipalities in Karnali and Sudurpaschim. A closer look at the composition of these projects, and at the Bank's own account of its priorities, offers a window into how one of the country's largest financial institutions is trying to translate the language of the Sustainable Development Goals into everyday practice.
According to Surendra Raj Regmi, CEO, the selection of projects is guided less by geography or visibility than by need. "Global IME Bank's CSR approach prioritizes sustainable, long-term initiatives that create meaningful social impact," Regmi said, adding that the Bank primarily supports economically disadvantaged and underserved communities. Projects are chosen for their potential to improve education, health, financial inclusion, environmental sustainability, livelihood opportunities and overall community development, he said, while also aligning with national priorities and the SDGs.
That emphasis is borne out in numbers. Economic empowerment and financial literacy initiatives, categorised under the Decent Work and Economic Growth goal, make up the largest share of the Bank's recorded activities, followed by projects supporting quality education and, further behind, health and well-being. Smaller but notable clusters of work touch on clean water and sanitation, reduced inequality, and climate action, including tree plantation drives and support for community institutions. The geographic spread is also wide, with Bagmati Province accounting for the largest single share of activities, trailed by Lumbini, Gandaki and Sudurpaschim, alongside a set of nationwide programmes not tied to a single province, such as financial literacy content distributed through the Bank's own podcast.
Regmi was careful to note that the Bank's involvement is not limited to writing cheques. "Global IME Bank's contribution goes beyond financial assistance," he said. "The Bank works closely with local governments, communities, development partners, and implementing organizations to ensure effective project implementation." He said employees are directly involved in a number of initiatives, particularly humanitarian and disaster relief work, sanitation of public place and that the Bank maintains a system of monitoring and evaluation intended to ensure transparency and accountability over the life of a project rather than only at its launch.
Asked about outcomes, Regmi pointed to broad, cumulative effects rather than a single flagship example. He said the Bank's CSR and SDG initiatives have reached thousands of beneficiaries nationwide, citing improvements in access to education, healthcare, financial literacy, environmental conservation and livelihood opportunities. Among the outcomes he described as measurable were increased financial awareness, improved learning environments in schools, and what he called successful disaster relief efforts, alongside longer-running community development projects.
Sustainability, in the sense of projects that outlast their initial funding, is a theme Regmi returned to repeatedly. He described the Bank's long-term objective as creating lasting social and economic impact by empowering underserved communities, rather than offering one-time assistance. That, he said, depends on careful project selection at the outset, ongoing collaboration with local governments and development partners, regular monitoring, and sustained engagement with the communities involved, so that initiatives continue to generate value after the Bank's direct involvement tapers off.
What sets Global IME Bank apart in corporate social responsibility is its core belief that a bank shouldn't just focus on making profits, but must give back to the society where it operates. According to Regmi, the bank treats CSR purely as a social duty rather than a business function or strategy. "For Global IME Bank, CSR is about sharing our resources to support the communities that host us-it is driven strictly by social responsibility, with no link to our commercial interest," he said.
He pointed to the Bank's green lending products, including the Green Home Loan and Green Drive Loan, which offer preferential interest rates for environmentally responsible investments, as well as Global Haat Bazar, a platform the Bank has developed to give micro, small and medium enterprises market access to showcase and sell their products. Taken together, he said, the aim is to combine responsible banking, sustainable financing, financial inclusion and entrepreneurship promotion into what he described as shared value for customers, communities, businesses and the country as a whole.
Whether that framing holds up to scrutiny over time, particularly as more of Nepal's banks adopt similar language around sustainability and the SDGs, is likely to become clearer as these projects mature and as independent assessments of their impact, if any emerge, are published. For now, the scale and spread of Global IME Bank's activity, as reflected in its own records, suggest a CSR programme that has grown considerably in reach even as questions about long-term, independently verified impact remain open.