Kathmandu – Siddhartha Bank Limited has borrowed US Dollars 55 million from the International Finance Corporation, which is the biggest loan amount provided by the IFC to a Nepali Bank till date. IFC’s loan is the first ever foreign currency syndicated loan facility in the financial sector categorized as external commercial borrowing to a bank in Nepal.
The loan provided by the IFC shall be used by the Bank for MSME and Climate Financing. Siddhartha Bank over the years has been focusing on enhancing its MSME portfolio and the said loan will help the Bank to achieve its objective. In addition, the Bank shall also be using the loan for increasing its portfolio in climate friendly projects which shall be financing of energy efficiency projects such as solar projects, low carbon mobility projects such as electric vehicles, water efficiency projects, climate smart agriculture, manufacturing of energy efficient appliances, etc.
Siddhartha Bank is a member of IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program and was recently awarded by the IFC as the Best Operations Bank in South Asia 2021. Siddhartha Bank intends to be the Digital First Bank for Sustainable Growth and has been constantly focusing on digitization and business process re-engineering. Sustainability continues to be the Bank’s top most priority and has significantly scaled up the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) aspects in the Bank’s overall business strategy and practices. The Bank has a dedicated Environmental and Social (E&S) unit and is committed to use the power of finance to create a sustainable impact today and for generations to come.
Siddhartha Bank with an asset size of NPR 273.83 billion, Deposit base of NPR 216.96 billion and loan base of NPR 189.54 billion, stands today as one of the top banks of the country. The Bank has 195 branches, 223 ATMs and 1,744 POS spread across the country. The Bank has recently shifted its corporate office to its own building at Naxal, Kathmandu-1. Siddhartha Bank expresses gratitude to the Nepal Rastra Bank for the guidance and swift approval of the borrowing.
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