Kathmandu, February 25:

Nepali banking sector is in no way lagging behind its South Asian counterparts. Nabil bank has proved it by becoming the first bank in Nepal to receive an international rating.

Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), one of the leading credit rating agencies that has rated the top South Asian banks, rated Nabil 5A(2) — that indicates it to be a financially sound institution with a consistent performance record.

With a tangible net worth of approximately Rs 2 billion, Nabil bank is poised towards steady growth with its current size, reach and vision of the present management. “In the D&B Rating system the 5A is a reflection of the size of the bank and 2 is a rating given on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being the best,” said Saikat Poddar, regional sales director of D&B handing over the Impact Report to Anil Shah, CEO of the bank.

“The business analyses team of D&B has observed that Nabil has one of the lowest NPA levels in the industry that demonstrates good credit management. However it needs to step-up its profit retention ratio and incorporate advanced risk management systems in order to meet the envisaged growth path,” Poddar added.

D&B — that has an impeccable global reputation for ratings of institutions around the world — completed a comprehensive company review of Nabil and presented company impact report and a D&B Rating of the bank today. “This is a pioneering step taken by Nabil bank and yet another milestone in our surge ahead to be Nepal’s Bank of 1st Choice,” Shah said, adding that in its surge ahead Nabil needs to benchmark itself against highest of international standards and continuously look at what it does to improve itself.

“For us the Impact Report done by D&B is an opportunity to be evaluated by a global leader in this area of expertise and receive feedback on where we stand and also identify areas in which we can improve,” he added.

After the completion of evaluation and review D&B today also issued a certificate profiling the bank. The certificate of D&B D-U-N-S ® Number was also provided to Nabil Bank by D&B. D-U-N-S stands for the Data Universal Numbering System and the D&B D-U-N-S ® Number is a Business Identification tool that is accepted worldwide and endorsed by world bodies such as the UN, the American government, the EU, the Australian government, the International Standards Institute and more that 50 other global business and trade organisations.