Deposit interest rates steady in Ashwin as only three banks cut rates, 17 leave them unchanged
Commercial banks have made no significant changes to deposit interest rates for the month of Ashwin. Despite ample liquidity, loan demand has not picked up, so 17 out of 20 banks have maintained their Bhadra rates, while only Everest, Nabil, and Standard Chartered have reduced personal deposit rates.
Kathmandu. Commercial banks have published new interest rates for the month of Ashwin. Although the banking system has ample investable funds, most banks have not changed deposit interest rates because loan demand has not improved as expected.
In Ashwin, most of the 20 commercial banks have continued their Bhadra rates for personal deposits. According to available details, the average maximum interest rate on personal deposits stood at 4.0895 percent in Ashwin. In Bhadra, this average was 4.136 percent. Accordingly, the average maximum interest rate has decreased by 0.0465 percentage points.
The banks that reduced personal deposit rates in Ashwin include Everest Bank, Nabil Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank.
- Everest Bank reduced the maximum interest rate on personal deposits by 0.55 percentage points to 3.50 percent. The bank also reduced the institutional deposit rate by 0.25 percentage points to 3.25 percent.
- Nabil Bank reduced the personal deposit rate by 0.30 percentage points to 4.25 percent. It has continued the 3.01 percent rate for institutional deposits.
- Standard Chartered Bank reduced the personal deposit rate by 0.05 percentage points to 3.75 percent.
However, it appears that Kumari Bank also reduced its personal deposit rate by 0.03 percentage points to 3.73 percent. Therefore, there is a factual inconsistency in the report that only three banks reduced personal deposit rates.
Meanwhile, Citizens Bank reduced the institutional deposit rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.75 percent. On the other hand, Sanima Bank increased the institutional deposit rate by 0.21 percentage points to 3.51 percent. For personal deposits, Sanima kept the 4.50 percent rate unchanged.
In personal deposits, Prabhu Bank maintained the highest rate of 4.55 percent in Ashwin. Likewise, Machhapuchchhre Bank, Nepal Investment Mega Bank, NMB Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, and Rastriya Banijya Bank, among others, did not change their personal deposit rates.
For institutional deposits, the average rate of the 20 commercial banks decreased from 3.081 percent in Bhadra to 3.0665 percent in Ashwin. This is a decrease of 0.0145 percentage points.
Overall, although the banking system has ample liquidity, banks have not made major changes to deposit rates because loan demand has not increased as expected. Most banks have continued the previous month's rates, while some banks have made slight cuts in personal and institutional deposit rates.