KATHMANDU
Nepal Clearing House Ltd. (NCHL) has started its joint operation from June 3, 2024, after acquiring Nepal Electronic Payment Systems Ltd. (NePS) amid an announcement in a formal event. This is the first such consolidation of payment system operators in Nepal, who have come together to collaborate for a digital ecosystem. The Joint Operation Announcement event was graced by the presence of Governor Mr. Maha Prasad Adhikari as the Chief Guest and various dignitaries from Nepal Rastra Bank, banks and financial institutions, payment system operators, payment service providers, its employees, and others.
Special general meetings of the companies held on June 13, 2081, approved the consolidation of NePS with NCHL, and after the final approvals from Nepal Rastra Bank and the Office of Company Registrar, the joint operation started on June 3, 2024. NCHL and NePS are both promoted and represented by the banks and financial institutions, and hence there is no change in the Board of Directors after the acquisition. The valuation was done as per the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Bylaw and was carried out by a duly authorized DDA auditor, based on which the acquisition was executed at a swap ratio of 1:0.28 between NePS and NCHL.
NCHL and NePS have been working in the payments industry with a vision to improve the digital payments ecosystem in Nepal. NCHL has been operating national payment systems related to non-card-based infrastructures for the last 15 years, whereas NePS has been providing card processing services for the last 11 years. The consolidation of NePS with NCHL will provide access to both card and non-card payment infrastructures and is expected to support faster rollout and acceptability of the National Payment Switch (NPS-NCS and NEPALPAY schemes). The existing card services related to issuing, acquiring, card and personalization, management, and services of earlier NePS will be continued by NCHL as ‘EFT Card Services’. The infrastructure will be further enhanced to drive the issuing and acquisition of the NEPALPAY domestic card scheme and will service existing and other participating members.
The consolidated paid-up capital is over NRs 1.07 billion, with a total reserve of NRs. 1.44 billion will help to enhance infrastructure, improve risk and security controls, invest in innovations, and improve service quality. The combined transaction volume after the consolidation is close to 130.50 million, equivalent to a transaction value of NRs 11.30 trillion, till the end of Chaitra 2080. The experience and expertise of over 132 resources are expected to create further synergy to drive NCHL to the next level in Nepal and beyond.
NCHL has been operating Electronic Cheque Clearing (ECC), Interbank Payment System (IPS), Retail Payment Switch (RPS), connectRTGS, National Payments Interface (NPI as an open API platform), connectIPS (retail channel and gateway), CORPORATEPAY (business payment channel), and NEPALPAY QR. It is currently implementing the NPS-National Card Switch and the NEPALPAY Card.NePS has been offering a centralized card solution for card issuance, acquiring, and issuing transactions from a network of 1,600+ ATMs and 9,000+ POS machines of 11 member BFIs, with the underlying services of issuing and acquiring multiple card schemes, contactless transactions, cardless withdrawals, card personalization, 3D Secure ACS, and similar.
