Kathmandu, June 7: Siddhartha Bank Limited has signed an agreement with UKaidSakchyam – Access to Finance Programme for “Restructuring of SME vertical to achieve Bank’s focused target on SME Banking”.
The partnership was officially inked between Shambhu Nath Gautam, Chief Executive Officer, Siddhartha Bank Limited and Nirmal Dahal, Team Leader of Sakchyam amidst a program held recently in the capital.
It aims to cater to the financing needs of SMEs – particularly the ‘missing middle’ – across the country through innovative and sustainable approach. This collaboration aims to facilitate people with low income to meet their financing needs and promote entrepreneurship.
As per the newly reached deal, the bank shall restructure its business model, customize products, services and delivery mechanism in a way that best suits micro and small business segments across the country with extensive use of its expanding branch network.
During the event,Gautam of SBL said that the bank is delighted to collaborate with UKaidSakchyam – Access to Finance Programme for creating a platform for delivering a complete financial solution to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise.
Through this initiative, bank will roll out innovative financial products and services in a more focused and structured way and help position itself as one of the market leaders in the segment, according to him.
Similarly, Dahal of Sakchyam said “Our partnership with SBL aims to enhance access to finance for SME in general and ‘missing middle’ or micro-small enterprises in particular. Many studies, including the recent ‘Nepal Economic Census’ point to a significant percentage of enterprises in our country are still out of reach of formal FIs.”
“Changing this scenario would require banks to overhaul their operation, reengineer processes and utilize data-backed and technological solutions for effective and efficient decision making and this partnership is formed along the same line.”
Sakchyam Access to Finance is an UKaid-funded programme as a part of an agreement between the Governments of Nepal and the UK. It is being implemented by Louis Berger for DFID Nepal, in partnership with local and international institutions.
