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Nepal

No Open Banking

Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language. It is a landlocked country in South Asia.

Internet penetration as of 2021 was 37% in Nepal.

In 2018 it was stated that only 40% of the Nepalese population had access to banking services. In 2021, 54% of adults in Nepal had bank accounts, leaving 46% unbanked.

In very rural areas, banks can be intimidating, seen as something for urbanites, with illiteracy as an issue.

Microfinance has been a priority for the government in developing financial inclusion; in 2018, they developed a financial inclusion portal to allow the government to map out financial access points, and when it became apparent of gaps in different districts, banks were forced to build branches, often in areas without paved roads or power grids, with one branch only accessible via a rope bridge, and in the absence of concrete, is built of mud and rock. The lack of financial literacy makes digital banking unsuitable as a governmental pursuit, despite mobile phone penetration at 130%, as of 2018. The remote branches have a role in educating those who come in to improve their understanding of banking generally.

Nepal ranked 124th out of 134 countries in Wiley’s Digital Skills Global Index 2021