Kathmandu. Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Maha Prasad Adhikari has agreed to sign MoU for merger of Nepal Investment Bank and Himalayan Bank only after giving the class.

Himalayan Bank was reluctant to reach an agreement due to some conditions laid down by Nepal Investment Bank for the merger. In particular, the possibility of an immediate MoU for the merger was growing as the Investment Bank did not abandon its stance of having two people as the CEO of the post-merger bank.

According to sources, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Maha Prasad Adhikari had called the chairpersons of the board of directors of both the banks three days ago. The governor was angry for a while after Investment Bank chairman Pandey proposed to have two CEOs. He said that the practice in the world could not be practiced in Nepal and clarified that there would be no arrangement to have two CEOs in the bank as stated by the Investment Bank and the central bank would not support it.

Preliminary preparations for the merger gained momentum only after Pandey agreed to make the same CEO after the governor said that the position taken by the Investment Bank was wrong.

A joint meeting of the merger committee formed by the two banks was held today after Pandey resigned. The meeting also approved the draft MoU prepared by both the committees for merger.

The new bank to be formed by merging Himalayan and Investment Bank in the MoU will be called 'Himalayan and Investment Bank'. However, the name may change until the merger MoU is signed.

Similarly, the MoU states that there will be only one CEO and that opportunity will be given to Himalayan Bank. The chairman has said that he will accept the investment bank. This means that Prithvi Bahadur Pandey will be the chairman of the new and big bank to be formed after the merger of these two banks and Ashok Rana will be the CEO.

The current CEO of Investment Bank will be Jyotiprakash Pandey, Deputy CEO.

The draft MoU passed by the Joint Merger Committee will now be submitted to the Board of Directors of both the banks for discussion. The date for signing the MoU between the two banks will be decided only after the board of directors of the two banks approves it.