Curfew imposed by the government for the past four-days has hurt banking transactions of various banks and finance companies hard in Nepal.

Bankers said that due to the closure of all business and economic activities across the country, they are unable to carry out banking activities which are directly related to customers.

Janardan Acharya, spokesperson at the Rastriya Banijya Bank ( RBB), the largest state-owned commercial bank of Nepal, talking about the pathetic situation of the financial sector said here Wednesday that financial institutions may collapse anytime soon if the existing scenario continues.

According to Acharya, lending, deposit, recovery and other financial transactions have come to a complete halt for the past four days.

A senior official of a private commercial bank said that protest activities carried out by the seven political parties should not disturb public life and banks' activities.

It was found that some of the bank's branch offices are under immense pressure to down their shutters, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Few banks were seen open till 12:00 local time (0615 GMT) Tuesday when the day-time curfew started, and customers were in queue in the banks like Nepal Investment Bank (NIB) and Lumbini Bank as both financial institutions are located downtown in Kathmandu.

What is worrisome is that banks and finance companies are losing millions of Nepali rupees due to curfew and strike for which a timely solution is sought, a private commercial banking expert said.

Acharya informed that branch offices of RBB are in a crisis as they are under pressure to down their shutters which is a great setback for the bank.

"If this situation continues, a collapse of banking institution will not be far away," he said.

Source: Xinhua