NCHL concludes 10th AGM; endorses 38% bonus shares to increase its paid-up value and make investment in new infrastructure

Nepal Clearing House Ltd. (NCHL) has concluded its 10^th Annual General Meeting on 12th January 2022(28^thPoush 2078) for the fiscal year 2077/78, in presence of the limited shareholders through online and offline mode following all the protocols concerning the current COVID situation.

The AGM has approved to increase the paid-up capital to NRs. 567,663,600 from NRs. 411,350,400 through the issuance of a 38% bonus share. It also approved to increase its authorized capital to NRs 1 Billion. The capital has been increased primarily to support its investment in additional payment infrastructures, new products &services, enhance risk management systems, and for the current implementation of National Payment Switch. The meeting has also approved a 2% cash dividend to cover the tax provisions of the bonus.

The net profit has increased by 38% during the FY 2077/78 despite a major reduction in transaction fees from the beginning of the year, which is mainly due to the increase of over 117% of transactions processed through NCHL and after normalization of the transaction fee post-Covid-19 which was made free for almost 4 months in the preceding FY. The Return On Capital Employed(ROCE) is at 31% at the end of FY2077/78.

The AGM has unanimously elected two new members of the Board of Directors including, Mr. Til Bahadur Gurung, ADCEO from MuktinathBikas Bank Limited representing development banks, and Mr. Samaj Prakash Shrestha, DCEO from Reliance Finance Limited representing finance companies. Prior to this, development banks were represented in the Board by Mr. Madhav Prasad Upadhayaya, DCEO of Garima Bikash Bank Limited. NCHL Board is represented by a member from Nepal Rastra Bank, 3 members from commercial banks, 1 each from development banks and finance companies, withholding pattern of 10% by NRB and 90% by the BFIs.

NCHL processed a total of 44.8 Million transactions equivalent to the settlement value of NRs 13.04Trillion through its clearing and settlement systems including NCHL-ECC, NCHL-IPS, and connectIPS during the fiscal year 2077/78. There were 60 banks & financial institutions as its direct members with access to over 5,728 bank branches and over 62 non-bank institutions as indirect/technical members within NCHL’s network, as on Ashadh end 2078.