Once technically bankrupt,
the state-owned Rastriya
Banijya Bank (RBB), will
be ready for privatisation
within a year or two, says
Bruce F Henderson, chief
executive officer, RBB. In
an interview with The
Himalayan Times on the eve
of the 42nd anniversary of
RBB, Henderson shared his
views on the changes the new
management team has brought
about in the bank. “The bank
has turned into a
lucrative financial
institution after four
years of rigorous exercise,
relating to reform in the
bank. RBB has made
significant progress during
this period. From an almost
a dead bank, it has become
an awakened bank. We hope it
will be ready for
privatisation in a year or
two,” says the confident-49
year-old alumnus of the New
York University. Furnishing
details of the progress made
so far, Henderson says RBB’s
non-performing loans (NPL),
that exceeded 70 per cent
when new management took
over some four years back,
has been reduced to about 35
per cent now. “We hope to
bring it further down to 25
to 26 per cent by the end of
the current fiscal year and
to about 10 to 15 per cent
by January next year, when
the management’s contract
expires,” he adds. According
to him, the bank collected
over Rs 10 billion in cash
from defaulters and
restructured loans worth Rs
2.5 billion during the
period. The bank sold
non-banking assets worth one
billion rupees and increased
the volume of its productive
loan portfolio.
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