Big player Nepal Infrastructure Bank joins NCHL-ECC and NCHL-IPS

Nepal Clearing House Ltd. (NCHL) has entered into an agreement with Nepal Infrastructure Bank Limited (NIFRA) for subscribing to Electronic Cheque Clearing System (NCHL-ECC) and Interbank Payment System (NCHL-IPS) services, corresponding to which the bank went live with both the systems. The agreement was signed by Mr. Neelesh Man Singh Pradhan, CEO of NCHL and Mr. Bhupendra Pandey, Deputy CEO of NIFRA. With this, the bank will be able to process electronic cheques of its customers through NCHL-ECC system and process direct credit (payment) & direct debit (collection) types of interbank payment transactions on behalf of its customers using NCHL-IPS system within the network of member banks and financial institutions.

NCHL is promoted by Nepal Rastra Bank, Banks & Financial Institutions and Smart Choice Technologies Ltd. with an objective to implement multiple national payment and settlement systems in Nepal. It has been operating NCHL-ECC for processing of paper based financial instruments, NCHL-IPS for processing of instruction based direct credit/ direct debit instruments and connectIPS e-Payment system for processing of real-time instant payments through alternate channels. NCHL-ECC has 81 BFIs and NCHL-IPS has 76 BFIs as its direct members and other 3 institutions as indirect/ technical members.

Nepal Infrastructure Bank Limited (NIFRA), is the first national level infrastructure bank established with an objective of accelerating the development of infrastructures in Nepal. It is jointly promoted by the Government of Nepal, banks & financial institutions, life & non-life insurance companies and leading private sector entrepreneurs. The bank aims to bridge the infrastructure financing gap by raising resources from domestic and international market including blended financing.