Mega Bank
Nepal is the classic market for small and medium-sized enterprises. It is fair to say that for decades, SMEs have formed the backbone of the economy. Nepal had very few big companies and a large number of people who lacked access to a formal bank account.
In between were millions of SMEs, many of them little more than one-person operations that all too often struggled to obtain credit or financial guidance from the banks. But that has changed. As Nepal’s economy expands and matures, lenders of all sizes and shapes are eager to serve aspiring SMEs in sectors ranging from construction to tourism and consumer goods to financial technology.
Mega Bank sees these smaller firms as crucial for the health of the economy, responsible for driving up incomes and for boosting social development.
Over the last year, Mega Bank has revisited the division, rolling out an SME loan unit. New features include working capital financing and trade facilities such as letters of credit and bank guarantees. Competitively priced loans ranging in size from about $9,000 to nearly $64,000 offer flexible tenures, and are disbursed in as little as 24 hours.
Total outstanding loans to SMEs reached $113.8 million as of the middle of July 2018, up 77% from a year earlier, with hundreds of smaller firms signing up as customers in the wake of the division’s relaunch.