Kathmandu. Global IME Bank and Bank of Kathmandu are going to start integrated business from Monday, 25 poush 2079 (10 January 2023).  Global IME Bank has previously merged more than a dozen banks including Commerz and Trust, Janata and BOK has also merged with Lumbini Bank.

After the merger of these two banks, the integrated business is going to be done under the name of Global IME Bank Limited. According to the bank, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda will inaugurate the integrated business. It is said that preparations are being made for the grand opening of the integrated business in the presence of Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel.

After the merger, the central office of the bank will remain in Kamaladi, where the central office of Global IME Bank is currently located. The bank has informed that all banking services will be closed on January 22, 23 and 24 for data migration purposes after the start of integrated business.

Global IME Bank and Bank of Kathmandu reached an initial agreement on June 2. In order to merge these two banks, the meeting of the board of directors of the bank held on 24th of November decided that they will merge with each other on equal basis i.e. 1:1 ratio. In order to go for the merger, both these banks had signed an agreement on June 2.

The paid-up capital of the new entity formed after the merger will be around 34 billion. The bank will become the largest bank in terms of capital. Global IME BOK Limited, which will be formed by merging 21 banks and financial institutions, will include 5 A class commercial banks, 10 development banks and 6 finance companies. After the merger, the total capital of the bank will be 52 billion 29 million. Similarly, the paid-up capital will be 34 billion 41 million. After the merger, it will be the largest bank in Nepal in terms of paid-up capital and business size.

It was agreed between the two parties that Chandra Prasad Dhakal (currently Chairman of Global IME Bank) will be the chairman of the bank formed after the merger, and Ratnaraj Bajracharya (currently CEO of GlobalIME Bank) will be the chief executive officer. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BOK of the merged bank will be Shravan Kumar Maskey Senior Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

The number of branches will be around 375 and the bank will be operated by 4000 manpower. The bank believes that the accumulated experience of merging many financial institutions in the past will be useful even after the merger with Bank of Kathmandu. After the merger, it has become one of the strongest and largest banks in Nepal.

President Dhakal believes that the merger with Bank of Kathmandu will be a big positive step in the commercial life of the bank. Chairman Dhakal believes that after the merger, the commerciality of the bank will be further improved and the bank will be able to give more profit to the shareholders.