Kathmandu. NCHL held an interaction program with its EFT Card Services member banks and financial institutions. The event was attended by representatives of 22 banks and financial institutions and senior officials of NCHL.
During the program, the delegates discussed ways to further strengthen relations, exchange updates on the operational requirements of the service, discuss new initiatives, and collect feedback and suggestions from members regarding EFT services.
During the interaction, member banks and financial institutions and NCHL shared their views, suggestions and experiences on customer expectations, technology development and operational requirements. The program also discussed issues related to strengthening the security of card payments, operational issues and innovative initiatives.
During the program, it was welcomed that 2 more commercial banks and 5 finance companies have joined the EFT card as new members. With this, the number of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) associated with NCHL’s EFT card switch has reached 17, 6 banks and financial institutions are using e-commerce payment gateway service and 14 BFIs are using the e-commerce payment gateway service.
EFT Card Services is a central switching solution provided by NCHA for banks and financial institutions, which is responsible for processing, card issuing, and acquiring transactions of various national and international card schemes. Currently, EFT allows member banks and financial institutions to issue Visa and Nepalpay cards, while EFT offers card transactions from 8 major national and international networks including Visa, Mastercard, Union Pay, Diners Club, Discover, Pulse, RUPAY/NEPALPAY.
In the financial year 2082/83, in Nepal, Rs. About 129 million transactions were made through cards with a transaction value of 10.19 trillion, while 1 crore 43 lakh 30 thousand cards were in circulation. During this period, there were 32 million transactions worth EFT. 32 million transactions worth 255 billion transactions and 34.4 million cards were in circulation. In the last financial year, EFT accounted for about 25 percent of the Nepali market. EFT’s 3D Secure ACS service is an online card used to protect transactions.
Similarly, the e-Commerce Payment Gateway provides a card payment service to the online merchants of participating banks and financial institutions. Currently, this service is being provided by 6 member banks and financial institutions and more than 115 merchants have joined it.
In line with its vision to further strengthen Nepal’s payment infrastructure and expand its usage, NCHL has promoted Nepal Pay as a national card scheme as an integral part of the national payment system. The EFT card switch has also been integrated into the NPS and it will also be able to issue and acquire the Nepal pay card. It has also provided the participating banks and financial institutions with the facility to issue and acquire the Nepal pay card using the existing infrastructure.
NCHL will continue to work in partnership with banks & financial institutions, ecosystem partners and international card networks to further enhance card payment capacity, strengthen and secure interoperability and promote innovative payment solutions.
