The country at present is in the grip of the second wave of the coronavirus and the number of infections has been increasing on a daily basis. To break this chain of infection the government has imposed a prohibitory order from April 29 and will last for 15 days. NepalNews spoke to Anil Keshary Shah, Chief Executive Officer of Nabil Bank, to learn how such orders affect the banking sector in Nepal and how we could overcome the existing problems. Excerpt:

In general, how do these lockdowns affect the banking sector in Nepal?

From a health and safety point of view these lockdowns are much needed to keep the pandemic in control. Being an essential service banks continue to provide financial services to our customers. So the health and safety of our staff and the customers who come to our premises is of paramount importance. Therefore we try and encourage customers to complete their banking transactions digitally as far as possible. Along with this during lockdowns we have to be extra vigilant to monitor the status of our customers, particularly our loan customers to ensure that they are managing and coping with the impact of the lockdown on their businesses to the best of their abilities.

BFIs have been allowed to open but do you feel it is apt when people cannot move around due to vehicular movement being curtailed?

As I said above banking is an essential industry and we have to remain open to provide services to our customers. Just think from the time of the first lockdown till now while only a relatively small percentage of the population has had to go to a hospital, a vast majority of the population has had to come to the bank to avail of the services we provide. When people need to avail of a banking service they find a way to come to the bank, but we are trying to provide a maximum of institutional and individual services digitally so that everyone can bank safely from their home.