August 2, 2019 - Financial News

Day: <span>August 2, 2019</span>

Congratulations !

August 2, 2019August 2, 2019
by Financial Notices

NOTICE! NOTICE!!

All candidates shortlisted for written examination for Trainee Assistant (Century Commercial Bank .Ltd) at Kathmandu Centre are advised with the following details of the written examination.

Date: August 3^rd, 2019, Saturday
Exam Centre: Nepal Commerce Campus (NNC), Min Bhawan, Kathmandu.
c. Reporting time: Shift 1 – 9:30am, Shift 2- 12:00pm
d. Exam time: Shift 1- 10:00am to 11:30am, Shift 2- 12:30pm to 2:00pm
e. Exam ID: The exam symbol No. has been sent to the shortlisted
candidates via email.

Candidates will have to report to the exam center with the following documents compulsorily;
a. Citizenship Certificates or Driving License (in original)
b. Photocopy of transcript or certificate of Intermediate

Details about written examination;
There will be following sections in the written exam;

English grammar, English composition, English translation
Mathematics: Simple Arithmetic (objectives)
General Knowledge: Banking and others (objectives)

Visit the link below to view the list of Shortlisted Candidates:

Shortlisted Candidates for KTM center Trainee Assistant-Shift 1

Shortlisted Candidates for KTM center Trainee Assistant-Shift 2

Sources: cms job dot com

Financial Literacy

‘Financial literacy in Nepal is very poor’

August 2, 2019August 2, 2019
by Financial Notices

UMESH POUDEL

Bijay KC, dean of Kathmandu University School of Management

Photo: Naresh Shrestha / THT

Lack of loanable funds and also awareness among investors in the secondary market has been a recurring problem since long. Investors often blame the government for not addressing their demands and the government in turn often accuses the stock investors of manipulating the market. As this blame game continued, the Nepal Stock Exchange index dipped to 1,118.13 points on December 5, the lowest point for the year. However, the government did address some of the concerns raised by investors on December 19 and since then the share market has seen some gains. In this context, Umesh Poudel of The Himalayan Times spoke to Bijay KC, dean of Kathmandu University School of Management, to get a proper insight into why Nepse has been in the doldrums for most of the year. Excerpts:

On July 27, 2016, Nepse had soared to an all-time high of 1,881.45 points and literally, anyone with any knowledge about shares was investing in the stock market. But the market has not been able to climb to such a high since then and moreover this year its performance has been dismal. What could be the reason for this downtrend?

The first reason is that Nepse is not guided by fundamental principles but by speculation. Most investors do not study the market before investing and follow the prevailing rumours. If they see the market rising they start buying shares and if it is going down they start selling without any proper analysis. I think Nepse, Securities Board of Nepal and Nepal Rastra Bank should work collectively to address the core problems in the market, which is not happening. The share market movement should be gradual but in Nepal it is very volatile because of lack of awareness among investors. Moreover, banks and financial institutions and some big firms are not issuing enough shares due to which market has not been able to expand as expected. Since a majority of the firms in the market are banks and financial institutions Nepse has not been able to grow much. For any stock market to expand there must be the presence of real sector companies.

The government recently increased the loan to value ratio for share purchase from 50 to 65 percent. What is your comment on this?

The government recently raised the loan to value ratio for share purchase. This move by the government has made many investors happy as they will now be able to get more loans. However, we should realise this is not a long-term solution. If the government keeps increasing this ratio then it could invite an economic crisis. Hence, I believe that investors also need to change their attitude because taking a loan is not a big issue. The issue is about paying back the loan with interest. It is a grave issue because if the market crashes then investors will not be able to pay back the loans and it will hit financial institutions, which will in turn affect the larger economy.

Are there any other measures that could be adopted for the overall development of the stock exchange?

The regulator needs to allow the stock exchange to develop as per the market fundamentals and should not interfere much. One important step that it could take is try to discourage people from investing in shares on speculation by conducting awareness programmes. The country should start financial literacy programmes so that people are aware about the benefits and drawbacks of the share market and the way it functions. It might seem a tough job at present but will lead to the market functioning in an effective manner in the long run. What I have noticed is that the government is trying to manage the market through taxes. If there is a large investor who tries to manipulate the market then only should the government interfere. Otherwise, the government should not be interfering there. The other problem is that companies do not publish information in a timely manner. When companies fail to do so they lose the trust of the share investors. So, if accurate information is published on time then it will go a long way in gaining the trust of investors and the market will witness more players. This in turn will make Nepse more vibrant.

Banks and financial institutions have not been able to supply enough funds to borrowers since the first quarter of the current fiscal. This liquidity problem has been going on for many years now. How could we solve this issue?

The grey economy has been thriving in the country. The share of the informal sector is very high. What you can notice is that even if the country witnesses seven percent growth or three percent growth the import of luxurious goods and vehicles for instance is always the same. This indicates a grey economy in the country which needs to be controlled. This will help channelise funds to the financial institutions and subsequently the liquidity situation will improve. Another perennial problem that we have been facing is the low capital expenditure by the government. These are some structural problems in our economy which need to be rectified. I feel that the central bank also needs to be more aware about the liquidity situation in the country and pump in money when and as required. And when there is surplus liquidity, it needs to withdraw funds from the market to stabilise the situation.

Every time any concerned authority makes any comment regarding Nepse, the share market witnesses a fluctuation. Does this not indicate that the country’s capital market has still not matured?

As an academician, I feel financial literacy among investors in Nepal is very poor. There are many investors in the capital market who actually have no idea on how the market functions but are participating in it on ‘hearsay’. Even when a person who is not a financial analyst makes a comment on Nepse, we can see massive fluctuations in the market, which is a sign that the market has yet to mature. Even though trading at Nepse started in 1994, we have not been able to develop the market as anticipated. However, there are more informed investors at present than in the earlier days. So, it will probably take a few more years before the share market in Nepal fully matures. Another thing we need to look into is that the economy of a few countries like Nepal, India, and Germany is dominated by financial institutions whereas there are others like the United States, United Kingdom and China where the economy is dominated by the market. I personally feel that if we want our economy to progress then we need to have a market-oriented economy.

Sources: The Himalayan Times

Financial Literacy

National Strategies Of Financial Education – Way Forward

August 2, 2019August 2, 2019
by Financial Notices

Prakash Koirala

Financial education is a planned programme of learning opportunities and experiences designed to increase the financial capability of students from every social and cultural background. This is the ability to manage one’s finances and become a confident, questioning and informed consumer of financial services that are available in the market.

Money awareness programme

Financial education is a money awareness programme. The goal is to teach people about money, saving, creating livelihoods, gaining employment and becoming an entrepreneur through practical learning. This is done by giving them an opportunity to open a bank account, to visit a bank for discussion of financial planning, participate in a retirement opportunity at the community level, and connecting them to small and micro-enterprise projects of a financial institution.

Financial education helps to take a wise financial decision, make payment of bills on time and manage one’s wealth, which helps potential borrowers to support livelihoods and economic growth, improve the financial system and reduce poverty. It also provides greater control over the people’s financial future, makes more effective use of financial products and services, and reduce the vulnerability to overzealous retailers or fraudulent schemes.

Facing a financially educated people, financial regulators are forced to improve the efficiency and quality of financial services. This is because a financially literate population can create competitive pressures on financial institutions to offer more appropriately credible, priced and transparent services, by comparing options, asking the right questions and negotiating more effectively.

Financial service users on their part are able to evaluate and compare financial products, such as bank accounts, saving products, credit and loan options, payment instruments, investments, and insurance coverage so as to make optimal decisions.

I have been witnessing the financial education movement since 2012. This is particularly important for the current economic climate. While giving training and workshops, many young people said that they were worried about the future financial plan and financial crunch and their impact on their lives, now and in the future. Many of them expressed concern about start-up business, education loans, family dependency and so on.

The financial education movement has helped ease such fears. It has enabled them to develop not only an understanding and awareness of money but also the skills, critical judgment and resolve to manage money more effectively. It is important in the ever-changing economics of Nepal that we live in that people understand how to make the most of their money, and this works best when national strategies of financial education of the Central Bank of Nepal take the lead.

Financial education in Nepal, measured by the access of the adult population (15 years+) holding an account in a formal financial institution, is around 17 percent (compared to 44.9 percent in Europe and Central Asia). According to a survey of Nepal Rastra Bank, a large portion of the population is not aware of specific financial products. The number of account holders in financial institutions is impressive, but loan takers and saving habits of those people from a formal financial institution are very low.

An electronic payment system has been still struggling to spread with the advancement of new technology. There are more than 150 financial institutions across the country. If we wish to navigate through the financial barriers, people should be given financial education to avoid the traditional dependency of the people on the local money lenders.

National strategies of financial education can have a very positive impact on the young generation’s attitudes towards finance and knowledge of financial matters. In particular, workshops conducted for the young generation and community people before and after giving personal finance education lessons showed that policies of financial education can make a significant difference to their attitudes towards saving and borrowing and can make them feel more confident about managing their own money through regulated and guided banking institutions.

Having such strategies is important to ensure that personal finance education becomes embedded within the Banking CSR to give them ownership of the planning and to coordinate the delivery of personal finance education lessons to the customer and expected consumers. The main reason behind advocating this is that it can help provide materials, resources and help in planning or delivering personal finance education lessons or activities.

A national strategy is a set of plans and policies that address how people could have access to finance and maintain their personal financial decision and become economically empowered. It helps financial institutions and educational institutions to make long-term informed financial decisions on education. It can give an opportunity to the people about the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to make good financial decisions and improve their financial relationship.

National strategies could be instrumental to provide access to finance to those people who have limited knowledge and understanding of financial products and concepts on a wider scale. This may have super positive consequences not only on the individuals’ and households’ future financial well-being but also on the long-term stability of financial and economic systems.

During the “Student with Governor” programme that was held during Global Money Week 2016, it was revealed that Nepal Rastra Bank was going to publish its very own national strategies of financial education. Hopefully, the central bank of Nepal will be able to recognize the importance of financial education through legislation. This will invite different stakeholders for cooperation and implementation.

Its main motive should be to develop a roadmap to achieve specific and predetermined objectives within a set period of time that provides guidance to the financial institution to run programmes that can guarantee effective use of financial services.

Financial inclusion

It’s widely known that the increase in financial literacy could help individuals make informed decisions regarding financial services. Given its low impact in Nepal, more advocacy and then the investment should be pumped towards financial literacy programmes so as to increase its effectiveness, which can only be measured through its impact on access to financial services. It is almost new for Nepal, so we should begin by launching campaigns to create awareness among the financial institutions, individuals, community, agencies, and stakeholders.

A national strategy of financial education is fundamental for financial inclusion. It will help to pull more people from the excluded category and the informal strand towards the formal and semi-formal strands. This will also help increase financial inclusion in the country.

(Writer is Global Youth Financial Education Award Winner 2015)

Source: The Rising Nepal

Uncategorized

प्रदेश ३ मा मोटरसाइकलमा यात्रु बोक्न ‘प्रतिबन्ध’

August 2, 2019August 2, 2019
by Financial Notices

काठमाडौं- प्रदेश ३ सरकारले निजी सवारीसाधनलाई भाडामा प्रयोग गर्न नपाइने गरी कानुन ल्याएको छ। प्रदेश ३ ले बनाएको प्रदेश सवारी तथा यातायात व्यवस्था ऐनमा निजी सवारीलाई (गैर-व्यावसायिक सवारी) व्यावसायिक प्रयोजनमा चलाउन नपाउने गरी घुमाउरो भाषामा प्रतिबन्ध लगाउन खोजेको छ।

निजी सवारीलाई गैर-व्यावसायिक सवारीको रूपमा परिभाषित गरेको प्रदेश ऐनले यस्ता सवारीले निश्चित रुट, भाडा निर्धारण तथा यात्री बिमा गरेमा मात्र यात्रु बोक्न पाइने उल्लेख गरेको छ। गैर-व्यावसायिक सवारीको भाडा निर्धारण र यात्री बिमा सहज भए पनि यस्ता सवारीको रुट कायम गर्न भने जटिल देखिएको छ।

ऐनको दफा १३ को उपदफा १ मा ‘निजी प्रयोजनका लागि दर्ता प्रमाणपत्र प्राप्त सवारीलाई गैर-व्यावसायिक सवारी भनिनेछ’ भनी लेखिएको छ। त्यस्तै उपदफा २ मा गैर-व्यावसायिक सवारी व्यावसायिक रुपमा यातायात सेवाका लागि प्रयोग गर्न पाइने छैन भनी स्पष्ट पारिएको छ।

यातायात व्यवस्था विभागले पनि केही समयअघि संघीय सरकारलाई भाडामा यात्रु बोक्ने मोटरसाइकललाई पनि कालो नम्बर प्लेटको व्यवस्था गर्न सुझाव गरेको थियो। त्यसो नगर्ने हो भने टुटल र पठाओ जस्ता सेवा नै बन्द गर्नु उपयुक्त हुने राय विभागको थियो।

संघीय सरकारले हालसम्म संघीय यातायात ऐन आउन सकेको छैन। प्रदेश ३ सरकारले २०७५ माघमै प्रदेश यातायात व्यवस्था ऐन ल्याइसकेको छ। उक्त ऐनमा गैर-व्यावसायिक सवारीलाई व्यावसायिक प्रयोजनमा प्रयोग गर्न नपाइने व्यवस्था गरिएको छ।

तर प्रदेश सरकारले बनाएको यातायात एनेको दफा १३ को उपदफा ४ मा भने उपदफा २ मा जुनसुकै कुरा लेखिएको भए तापनि निजी प्रयोजनका लागि दर्ता प्रमाणपत्र प्राप्त चारपांग्रे तथा दुईपांग्रे सवारीले तोकिएको प्रक्रिया पूरा गरी आफ्नो मार्गमा तोकिएको भाडा लिई यात्री बिमा गरी यात्रु ओसारपसार गर्न सक्नेछ भनी लेखिएको छ।

टुटल तथा पठाओ जस्ता सेवाले मोटरसाइकलबाट यात्रु ओसारपसार गरेको देखिएकाले यो कानुनविपरीत भएको भन्दै केही समयअघि संघीय सरकारले बन्द गर्नेसमेत भनेको थियो। टुटल र पठाओले लामो समयदेखि मोटरसाइकलमा भाडाका यात्रु बोक्ने प्लेटफर्मका सेवा प्रदान सञ्चालन गर्दै आएका छन्। कानुनी अड्चनका बीच प्रधानमन्त्री केपी शर्मा ओलीको ठाडो निर्देशनमा ट्राफिक प्रहरी र यातायात व्यवस्था विभागले बन्द गराउन सुरु गरेको टुटल पठाओको सेवा पुनः सुचारु भएको थियो।

अहिले भने प्रदेश नम्बर ३ सरकारले निश्चित रुट, भाडा तथा यात्रु बिमा गरेपछि मात्र दुईपांग्रे तथा चारपांग्रे गैर-व्यावसायिक सवारीले पनि भाडामा चलाउन पाउने गरी कानुन बनाएको हो।

Sources: Nepal Live dot com

News

Pepper Transform the Banking World

August 2, 2019August 2, 2019
by Financial Notices

Can you please provide an overview of Pepper (Banking)?

Pepper is a 100% mobile bank that rips up the rulebook of banking. Created by the 117-year-old Bank Leumi, Israel’s leading bank, Pepper enables customers to manage their finances entirely via their smartphone. Our aim is to help bring people closer to their personal finances, by delivering personalised insights and optimised services for individual users through intuitive design. Ultimately, this helps consumers make better financial decisions.

What makes Pepper (Banking) unique among its competitors?

From a functional perspective, Pepper is completely free. There are no current account fees and you only pay for the banking services that you choose to use. We also provide our customers with banking services that can be fully accessed from a mobile; from opening an account in less than eight minutes using video call technology to making payments and getting a loan.

From a service perspective, we are customer obsessed. Our offering includes proactive suggestions to help customers actively manage their spending and saving, as well as personal information services such as: if you wish to take out a loan in order to cover the overdraft in your account, Pepper will compare the interest on the requested loan with the interest on your overdraft.

Pepper is different from other international fintechs because it was born out of a traditional bank. Bank Leumi, unlike other traditional banks, disrupted the market by creating Pepper rather than waiting to be disrupted – like the approach many UK incumbents have done with the rise of fintechs like Monzo, Starling and Revolut. However, despite leaning on the financial knowledge and trust of a 117-year-old bank, Pepper operates separately from Bank Leumi and is based on completely new IT systems. We are unhindered by legacy systems and have a tech-first approach thanks to our digital core, meaning we can adapt to evolving customer demands, technology innovation and regulation changes quickly and effectively.

What are the issues and challenges the banking industry facing?

A big challenge for the banking industry is for players to stop thinking like banks. The profit and loss business model is dead, meaning banks must shift towards a model that focuses on their customers. One way they can do this is by using data effectively to offer great services built with the customer in mind. Banking should be as fun as Facebook and as easy as WhatsApp, so it’s clear that banks need to change their approach to not only offer the convenient, engaging services their customers expect and are receiving from fintech competitors, but also be looking at what experiences tech giants are offering.

Another challenge the banking industry is facing is digitalisation – and by that I don’t mean implementing a digital layer, but the transformation of a business’ core. Our research found that only 44% of decision-makers at retail banks believe they’d have to change their business model to go ‘fully digital’. There’s a huge opportunity for banks to adapt and build a new business model based on collaboration with outside players. However, without a digital core, collaboration to become ‘customer obsessed’ is impossible. Banks are too ‘proud’ to adopt technology that is not their own but they must recognise the importance of collaboration to meet growing customers’ digital demands, else they risk becoming irrelevant.

What is the market demand for banking services in the present time?

Consumer demand is currently all about personalisation and access to services on-demand. Our recent Change in Banking report reveals that, for the third (36%) of Brits that bank digitally, convenience is a key reason. What’s more, almost half (44%) of customers banking with digital-only banks do so because it’s more efficient, allowing them to manage their finances anywhere, anytime, free from restriction of branch opening times. The rise of digital apps and customer-obsessed tech companies mean consumers expect the same level and quality of service in all walks of life – including banking.

How will the appointment of new Prime Minister Boris Johnson impact fintech companies?

The fintechs should be largely unaffected by the appointment of Boris Johnson as the UK’s new Prime Minister. Current political uncertainty across the world means that no one can predict future events, so finance players have had to implement a flexible, adaptable, scalable digital core to allow them to react to whatever the market throws at them.

Financial players that move away from a profit and loss business to a model which focuses on their customers will continue to succeed in any market and revenue will follow.

What is next for Pepper (Banking)?

One of our biggest aims is to take our market innovation further – imagine a world where you go into your regular coffee shop and Pepper drops money into your account as a thank you for being their customer – that’s the customer service we are looking to offer in the very near future. Watch this space!

speaks to Michal Kissos Hertzog, CEO at Digital Bank Pepper.

Sources: Financial IT