Governor Asks Banks to Maintain Fiscal Discipline

Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Bijayanath Bhattarai has instructed the commercial banks in the country not to open branches unnecessarily and help maintain fiscal discipline. Speaking in an interaction on challenges of the banking sector in Nepal organized by ´The Banker´, a banking magazine on the occasion of its fifth anniversary here on Friday, Bhattarai said NRB will monitor the branches the commercial banks are opening one after the other. He said only opening the branches profusely will not do and it is necessary pay attention to how they are being operated, managed and their economic status. Governor Bhattarai stressed that these branches should focus their services towards the people of the rural and remote areas. He made it clear that the shortage of bank notes was due to the technical reasons and the time required for printing them and not because of the incompetence of NRB. Former governors Himalaya Shumsher JB Rana and Satyendra Pyara Shrestha spoke on the challenges of the banking sector in Nepal and said the commercial banks should themselves strive to face these challenges without looking up to the government. They also suggested the commercial banks to expand their services to the rural areas and make them people-oriented. At the interaction, executive director of NRB Maha Prasad Adhikari presented a working paper on the condition of banking sector in Nepal and complexities following Nepal´s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2010. Former president of Nepal Bankers´ Association Radhesh Panta and Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank, Sujit Mundul commented on the working paper. They stressed working collaboratively by remaining conscious about the future challenges and possibilities. Editor of the magazine Madhukar Adhikari and the CEOs of different banks underlined the need for highlighting the problems and challenges seen in the country´s economy and the banking sector by means of economic journalism.