Following their merger, Bank of Kathmandu (BoK) and Lumbini Bank started joint operations on Thursday. The merged entity has been named Bank of Kathmandu Lumbini.

With this, the number of commercial banks in Nepal has come down to 28.

After the merger, the paid-up capital of Bank of Kathmandu Lumbini has reached Rs4.57 billion—still short of Rs8 billion paid-up capital requirement for a commercial bank.

The share swap ratio of 1:0.8281 agreed between the two banks has resulted in a capital reserve of Rs0.39 billion in the books of the merged institution.

As per the unaudited financial figures, as on April BoK’s deposits and loans amounted to Rs40.72 and Rs34.85 billion respectively, while Lumbini’s deposits and loans stood at Rs22.94 billion and Rs 20.36 billion respectively.

Similarly, net profits of BoK and Lumbini Bank stood at Rs483.51 million and Rs277.93 million respectively.

Meanwhile, the newly-formed board of directors on Thursday unanimously elected Satya Narayan Manandhar as the chairman of the new bank. The board also appointed Ajay Shrestha as its chief executive officer.

“The merger concluded successfully adding up to the strengths of both the institutions,” said Shrestha. “Now we have to transform strengths into competencies. Previously, BoK had a strong presence in Western Nepal, while Lumbini had the same in the Central region,” he said, adding the stronghold has increased after the merger.

According to Shrestha, the organisational structure would be reviewed and the best decision helping the growth of institution will be taken in the upcoming days.

The newly-appointed board of directors are Satya Narayan Manandhar, Santa Bar Singh Thapa, Govinda Prasad Sharma, Chop Narayan Shrestha, Hem Raj Subedi, Kedar Nath Gautam, Subarna Lal Shrestha,  Madan Lal Joshi and Dibyanidhi Bista.

The registered and head office of Bank of Kathmandu Lumbini is in Kamal Pokhari, Kathmandu.

The service of the bank can now be availed from 74 branches, 63 ATMs, 7 extension counters and 33 branchless banking points throughout the country.'