बैंक तथा वित्तीय संस्थाका १४९ शाखा बन्द, सबैभन्दा बढी एनआईसी एसियाले गाभ्यो149 Bank Branches Shut in 10 Months, NIC Asia Merges the Most

Kathmandu — In the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, 149 branches of banks and financial institutions across the country have been closed. The branch consolidation has accelerated following Nepal Rastra Bank's branch adjustment policy, with commercial and development banks operating multiple branches within metropolitan cities leading the merger trend.

The first quarterly review of the current fiscal year's monetary policy had paved the way for banks with a high concentration of branches within metropolitan areas to merge or consolidate them as needed. As a result, 118 branches belonging to 7 commercial banks and 3 development banks located in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Pokhara, Biratnagar, Birgunj, and Bharatpur have been consolidated.

According to Rastra Bank spokesperson Guru Paudel, the policy was introduced because the growing use of digital banking has reduced the need for a large number of physical branches. He clarified that branch consolidation must not affect the quality of service customers receive, and that staff layoffs are not permitted as part of the process. He added that employees cannot be forced to resign by being transferred to remote or inconvenient locations under the pretext of branch closures, and that affected staff can file complaints with the central bank if this happens.

According to the data, by the month of Baishakh, commercial banks had reduced their branches by 141 and development banks by 15, while finance companies actually added 2 new branches during the same period. NIC Asia Bank leads in branch mergers with 44 branches consolidated, followed by Kumari Bank with 24, Nepal Investment Mega Bank with 18, and Prabhu Bank with 12. Among development banks, Mahalaxmi merged 4 branches while Muktinath and Saptakoshi each merged 2.

As a result, the number of commercial bank branches, which stood at 5,099 at the end of Ashad, has dropped to 4,963 by Baishakh, while development bank branches have fallen from 1,132 to 1,119. Banking sector experts say that as digital transactions grow, customer footfall at physical branches is declining, and expect the branch consolidation process to continue in the coming days as banks look to cut operating costs and improve service efficiency.