September 3: Nepal Bank Limited has signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the implementation of ADB's Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program (TSCFP).

The program is expected to support international trade and development by providing loans and bank guarantees to address the financial needs of businesses.

In 2022, the program supported trade exceeding more than US $7.7 billion through more than 10,000 transactions, of which more than 60 percent were linked to small and medium-sized businesses.

ADB has provided credit lines to Nepal Bank under the TSCFC to support import transactions from more than 200 countries.

The agreement was signed after extensive due diligence and discussions in core areas of Nepal Bank’s finances, corporate governance, risk, and compliance.

The agreement was signed by Steven Beck, head of ADB’s TSCFP and Laxman Paudel, chief credit officer of Nepal Bank Limited.

On the occasion, Krishna Adhikari, Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Bank Limited, said that the bank is ready to use the credit line to support the business activities of the customers while further increasing the bank's presence among the MSMEs.

Arnaud Heckman, officer in charge of ADB Nepal Resident Mission, was also present at the signing ceremony.