Rastriya Banijya Bank
Strong and sound, government-owned Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) has provided quality financial services to customers in the public and private sectors ever since it first opened its doors in 1966, and its 218 branches, which serve more than three million customers, can be found in even the most remote corners of the country.
RBB chief executive Kiran Kumar Shrestha tells Asiamoney the lender always “prioritizes serving marginalized people and SMEs, living and operating in remote areas” and has a focus on financial inclusion.
Corporate social responsibility is not an afterthought at RBB but at the heart of everything it does. Wherever you look at the bank, you see goodwill at work, whether it’s the money used to help homeless and orphaned children, or the free computers handed out to schools in the eastern district of Bhojpur, or the bank’s long-standing financial literacy campaign in the Gorkha region that straddles the Budhi Gandaki river.
Rastriya Banijya Bank has helped to clean up after floods and to rebuild devastated communities after earthquakes, while for several years it has co-funded a scholarship programme that enables students from poorer backgrounds in rural areas to attend college.
Most financial institutions these days have a CSR agenda of some size and type. But a few lenders take it more seriously than others because it is in their DNA to want to help those around them to do better. Rastriya Banijya Bank sits very firmly in that last category.