Kathmandu. It has been decided to move ahead with the merger of Himalayan and Investment Bank. The decision was taken at a meeting of the board of directors of Himalayan Bank, said a director of Himalayan Bank. The managers said that the majority decided to merge after the managers from the provident fund expressed their disagreement.

 The Board of Directors of Himalayan Bank has decided to move ahead with the merger process by keeping all the previous conditions unchanged, said Ashok Shamsher Jabra, Chief Executive Officer of Himalayan Bank. According to Rana, the merger of Himalayan Bank and Nepal Investment Bank will be completed within the time extended by Nepal Rastra Bank twice.

The merger process was blocked by Himalayan Bank after the NRB gave in-principle approval. Meanwhile, Tulsiram Gautam, who was the chairman of the bank's board of directors on behalf of the provident fund, was replaced by the finance ministry. The merger process was halted due to the pressure of former chairman of the bank Manoj Bahadur Shrestha after the bank's director Prachandaman Shrestha came to the place.

The Board of Directors meeting of Himalayan Bank on November 26 was supposed to move the merger process forward. Now, the bank will convene a general meeting with 21 days till next Friday, said CEO Rana. The bank will now convene a special general meeting and merge with Nepal Investment Bank along with dividends on the main agenda of the general meeting.

It has already been agreed to become Himalaya Nepal Investment Bank. The chairman will be Prithvi Bahadur Pandey from Investment Bank and the chief executive officer will be Ashok Rana from Himalayan Bank. The two banks had agreed to merge on April 12. Investment Bank has just concluded its general meeting. However, the bank's chairman Puthvi Bahadur Pandey said that another special general meeting would have to be convened for the merger.