Submit your Article

Commercial banks are reducing the interest rate for the month of Magh (from January 15- February 12). A meeting of the Nepal Bankers' Association, an umbrella organization of commercial banks, held on Wednesday decided to reduce the interest rate by 1.13 per cent for the month of Magh. Presently the interest rate for personal fixed deposit is 12.13 per cent and 9.13 per cent towards institutional fixed deposit. Similarly, 15.33 percent interest has been fixed towards remittance fixed deposit accounts. However, the commercial banks have determined 11 percent interest towards personal fixed deposit, nine percent interest towards institutional fixed deposit and 12 per cent towards remittance fixed deposit account for the month of Magh. Meanwhile, Sunil KC has been elected President of Bankers' Association. Chief Executive Officer of NMB Bank, KC, was elected to the post unopposed. A special general assembly held on Wednesday elected KC as the new Chairperson.  CEO of Machhapuchchhre Bank, Santosh Koirala, was elected Vice-President of Association unopposed. Likewise, Ajay Bikram Shah of Laxmi Bank, Deepak Kumar De of Nepal SBI Bank, Krishna Bahadur Adhikari of Nepal Bank, Roshan Kumar Neupane of NIC Asia, Sudesh Khaling of Everest Bank and Suman Sharma of Sunrise Bank are executive members of the Association.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 200 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 103, 400 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 103, 200 per tola on Wednesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 102, 900 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 1,360 per tola today.

Ajod Insurance and United Insurance have signed a merger agreement on Wednesday. The Ajod-United merger initiative has come after Ajod's unsuccessful merger attempt with Prabhu Insurance. United Insurance Director Ravindra Raj Pant and Ajod Director Chiranjeevi Dwa signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on behalf of their respective organizations. It has been agreed that the swap ratio between United and Ajod will be 100:90 and the name of the entity formed after the merger will be United Ajod Insurance. Earlier, Ajod and Prabhu Insurance had signed a merger agreement in the last week of July 2022. However, the proposed merger did not materialize as both companies could not agree on the swap ratio. Ajod entered into a merger agreement with United after the regulatory body Nepal Insurance Authority agreed to end the merger process with Prabhu Insurance. During the signing of the agreement, both companies had agreed to merge with a swap ratio of 100:70. But, later Prabhu proposed a 100:60 swap ratio. The merger momentum in the Nepali insurance sector has intensified in the last one year after the Nepal Insurance Authority increased the minimum paid-up capital requirements of both life-insurance companies and non-life insurance companies. The authority has increased the paid-up capital of non-life insurance companies to Rs 2 billion while it is Rs 5 billion for life insurance companies. The authority has been pushing for consolidation in the Nepali insurance sector since the new chairman Surya Silwal took charge of the authority. There have been two successful mergers in the non-life insurance business in 2022. In July, Himalayan General Insurance and Everest Insurance merged to form Himalayan Everest Insurance Co. Ltd. Similarly, in October, Sanima General Insurance and General Insurance Company merged to form Sanima GIC Insurance Ltd. And, the first merger in the Nepali life insurance sector took place on December 22 with Surya Life Insurance and Jyoti Life Insurance starting an integrated business as Suryajyoti Life Insurance Company. This is the first merger among the life insurance companies in the country. While other life insurance companies have also signed merger agreements, they are yet to complete the merger process.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 21. 34 points to close at 2,190. 42 points on Wednesday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 0. 77 points to close at 419. 14 points. A total of 20,843,952 unit shares of 254 companies were traded for Rs 7. 65 billion. Meanwhile, Barahi Hydropower Public Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 99 percent. Likewise, Taragaon Regency Hotel Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 8. 74 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 16 trillion.