Janata Bank Nepal has recently launched branchless banking touch points (BLB) in four village development committees of Darchula with the support of Sakchyam, an access to finance initiative. The opening of these alternative delivery channels is part of Sakchyam’s rural banking project.

Speaking at the inauguration, Sakchyam team leader Baljit Vohra said the services provided by their BLBs would allow locals to improve their livelihoods. Sakchyam plans to open 50 new BLBs over the next three years in partnership with Janata Bank Nepal, it said in a press release.

The hilly regions of far west Nepal are some of the country’s remotest and least developed areas.

The local communities are backward in literacy and health and lack easy access to suitable financial products and services.

Villagers have to travel

long distances, often on foot or in buses over dangerous roads, to the district headquarters to perform simple financial transactions. Such travel is an unnecessary expense for them.

“Point of sale machine-aided BLBs bring a secure and convenient method of withdrawing and depositing cash besides allowing villagers to start a saving habit,” Sakchyam said. “The launch of a BLB is often accompanied by the opening of new bank accounts, adding more Nepalis to the formal financial sector.”

Vishrut Thapa, director of the Dhangadhi Regional Office of Nepal Rastra Bank, said that the expansion of access to financial services was in line with the central bank’s vision.