Central bank to pull out of Nepal Bank Ltd

The central bank is pulling out of the Nepal bank Ltd's (NBL) management in a year.
"Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has prepared a road-map to pull out its representatives from running the bank, in a year, as there is a chance of conflict of interest if the central bank continues to run the NBL," according to the central bank governor Dr Yubraj Khatiwada.
The central bank is appointing a chief executive officer (CEO), who will prepare the plan for exit of the central bank, holding an annual general meeting in a year, he added.
NBL has been under the central bank's direct supervision after the foreign management team of the Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Ltd, ICC Consulting decided to walk out suddenly, unhappy over NRB’s decision to extend the contract for another three months, in 2007.
The NBL management contract to the foreign management was part of the financial sector reform programme that started in 2002.
The donors including World Bank and DFiD-funded Financial Sector Technical Assistance Project (FSTAP) has suggested to reengineer the NBL and Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB).
Though, there has been a debate on either the reform programme became successful or not, the first phase of the reform programme will come to an end by this December," Khatiwada informed, adding that the central bank is into negotiation with the donors to start second phase of reform programme.
The second phase will be more focised on financial service expansion and consolidation, he added.
However, the central bank's idea to appoint CEO in the NBL at present condition has raised eyebrow. "When the bank is run by the board that has no representation of the all shareholders, how can the board appoint the professional CEO," questioned former finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat here at the sub-committee under the Parliamentary committee on Finance and Labour Relations.
The sub-committee -- led by Constituent Assembly (CA) member Hari Rokka -- has also asked the finance secretary Rameshwor Khanal to assure the professionality and impartiality before appointing the CEO.
"Earlier too, the bank's financial health deteriorated due to political bickering," Mahat added.Though NBL’s 61 per cent stake is owned by the private sector and bank employees, it is declared as a troubled bank and its board has representatives appointed by the central bank. The private shareholders have no representation in the board of directors at present.
The government has also been extensively holding interaction on the future road-map of the bank and FSTAP as a whole.
NBL has 4.89 per cent NPA and Rs 4.77 billion negative core capital, whereas RBB -- the other bank under the FSTAP -- has 9.81 per cent NPA and Rs 10.05 billion negative core capital at present.