See which bank is providing highest interest rate to its customers; Civil & Prime Commercial Bank at the top of the list

-Ruchi Rayamajhi When you have to open a bank account, what is the first information you would get about the bank? The answer is, undoubtedly, the interest rate it provides. Yes, interest rate provided by the bank is the most concerned factor every time a person wants to open a bank account. Currently, there are 28 commercial banks in Nepal. Among them Nepal Bank Limited, Rastriya Banijya Bank and Agriculture Development Bank Limited are state-owned commercial banks and the remaining 25 banks are private commercial banks. With the increase in number of commercial banks, introduction of various schemes to the customers have also increased lately and due to present liquidity crunch in the market, the banks are compulsive to provide higher interest rate to attract deposits and also to maintain 80% cash-deposit ratio as mandated by NRB. This, on the one hand, has benefitted customers as more and more interest rates are being provided while on the other hand, it has also increased confusion among the customers about the selection of the bank. The highest interest in saving account is provided by Prime Commercial Bank Limited and Civil Bank Limited at the interest rate of 8.50% per annum whereas the lowest interest rate provider is Rastriya Banijya Bank Limited and Nepal Bank Limited which are providing 3.25% per annum in the saving deposits followed by Standard Chartered Bank which is providing 3.50% per annum. The following table shows the banks on the basis of the interest rates they provide. The saving account interest rates listed below are the maximum interest rates provided by the banks for the saving deposits and the fixed deposit interest rates are provided for the fixed deposits of 1 year duration.   Below we can see a chart of the banks in terms of the interest they provide: