Standard Chartered Bank Nepal has once again got AAA ratings. It has retained the issuer rating of AAA from ICRA Nepal. Such issuers carry the lowest credit risk as they are considered to have the highest degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations. This is the third consecutive year the bank has received this rating.

How did Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Maintain this AAA Rating?

There are two companies that provide ratings to the issuer companies in Nepal. They are ICRA Nepal and Care Ratings Nepal. They provide ratings to the companies such that it will be one of the yardsticks to the stakeholders to decide the status of that company.

ICRA Nepal has rated Standard Chartered Bank Nepal under AAA rating after evaluating various criteria. It takes into account all relevant factors that could have an impact on the future cash generation of an issuer. Factors such as industry characteristics, the competitive position of the issuer, operating efficiency, management quality, commitment to new projects, and funding policies are also taken into account.

Standard Chartered Bank Nepal CEO Anirvan Ghosh Dastidar said,

“The reaffirmation of AAA rating for three years in a row is strong validation of our commitment to clients and all our stakeholders in Nepal. We thank everyone for making this possible.”

According to ICRA Nepal, in spite of the pandemic of Covid-19, the rating reaffirmation factors in the bank’s strong financial profile, as demonstrated by its strong capitalization and healthy asset quality.

Moreover, its recognition as a bank with global standards has supported it in gaining reaffirming this position. In addition to that, it won the “Best Consumer Digital Bank in Nepal” title in the year 2020, by Global Finance.

On August 12th, 2020, it was also named “Best Consumer Digital Bank in Nepal” by Global Finance, New York.

Know More About ICRA Nepal Ratings

ICRA Nepal gives ratings to various companies on the categories like:

Issuer Ratings
Corporate Credit Ratings
Local Level Governments
Non-Finance Companies
Corporate Debt Ratings
Initial Public Offerings
Banks ratings
Ratings for Non-Finance Companies
Fund Management Quality Ratings

It goes under a detailed analysis of various criteria for issuer ratings.

1. Industry Risk

Under this criterion, ICRA Nepal studies about the growth prospects, cyclicality, competitive intensity and regulatory risk of the company. Since Standard Chartered Bank has complied with the laws, rules and policies prescribed by the regulatory body, it could maintain the previously assigned ratings.

2. Business Risk

Similarly, under the business risk criterion, ICRA Nepal studies relative scale, competitive positions, diversification, operating efficiency and project risks.

3. Financial Risk

It studies profitabilities, leverage, coverage, cash flows and liquidity under financial risk. As a bank, financial risk is one of the important thing to manage so that it won’t create any chance of bank run. The bank reported a capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of 16.09% and tier-I of 14.46% as of mid-October 2021, against the minimum regulatory requirement of 11% and 7% respectively.

4. Management Risk

Under management risk, it assesses the quality of management, financial policies, governance structure and practices.

Along with that, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal has been increasingly providing digital banking and payment services in Nepal

On May 2021, it Standard Chartered Bank Nepal (SCBNL) was live on connectIPS to accept bank transfers from all the mobile banking apps. Similarly, on the same month, it was live in eSewa which allowed you to pay for your credit cards via eSewa.

Similarly, it had launched contact-less credit card for making contactless payments in August 2021. It allows users to complete close-range payments up to NRs. 2000 per transaction.

On October 2021, it further added a service in connectIPS where you can now pay for your SCBNL credit cards bills through connectIPS. Following this update, on November, it further allowed to load eSewa from the bank account.

SCBNL is providing superior card services among the banks in Nepal with various discounts and incentives along with safety. It is recently providing cards like:

Visa Classic Credit Card
Visa Platinum Credit Card
Bhatbhateni Lav Card
Priority Banking Credit Card

Are you the customer of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal? How is your experience regarding the its banking service going on? Feel free to drop down your comments.