Nepal Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank, Kumari Bank and four other development banks have signed a merger agreement.

NCC Bank had separately signed merger agreements with the four development banks—Infrastructure Development Bank, Apex Development Bank, International Development Bank and Supreme Development Bank—in November 2015.

And on Wednesday, the six financial institutions signed the accord to form a commercial bank with a paid-up capital of Rs8.21 billion.

NCC Bank’s management committee chief Laxmi Prapanna Niraula said they plan to complete the merger process by mid-June and start unified the operation by mid-July.

The share swap ratio and the name of the merged entity has not been fixed yet. “Due diligence audit of all the merging entities will determine the share swap ratio, while merger committee will finalise the name of the new entity,” said Niraula.

After the central bank hiked the paid-up capital requirement for commercial banks to Rs8 billion, banks and financial institutions have been rushing to hike their capital, either through merger or through other means such further share issuance and right shares.