Endnotes

1 Gajurel, D.P. l & Pradhan, R.S. (2012). ‘Concentration and Competition in Nepalese Banking’. Journal of Business, Economics & Finance (2012), Vol.1 (1). 2 Ojha, Sushil and Walsh, John. “Merger Policy and Its Impact on Nepalese Banks”, International Review of Management and Development Studies”, Shinawatra University, Thailand, ISSN-2520-3290, Volume 1, Issue 2, Page 117-134. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333674685_International_ Review_of_Management_and_Development_Studies_Merger_Policy_and_Its_Impact_on_Nepalese_Banks/ link/5cfe4d4092851c874c5b84b3/download 3 ibid. 4 “Bank Supervision Report 2018”, Bank Supervision Department, Nepal Rastra Bank, April 2019. Retrieved from https://www.nrb.org.np/contents/uploads/2019/12/Annual_Reports-Annual_Bank_ Supervision_Report_2018-new.pdf 5 ibid. 6 The Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) do not fall under the regulatory framework of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) but are governed by a Cooperative Act, 1992 of the Department of Cooperatives, which falls under the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation 7 Ojha, Sushil and Walsh, John. “Merger Policy and Its Impact on Nepalese Banks”, International Review of Management and Development Studies”, Shinawatra University, Thailand, ISSN-2520-3290, Volume 1, Issue 2, Page 117-134. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333674685_International_ Review_of_Management_and_Development_Studies_Merger_Policy_and_Its_Impact_on_Nepalese_Banks/ link/5cfe4d4092851c874c5b84b3/download 8 ibid. 9 Pant, Bhubanesh. “Financial Inclusion in Nepal: Policy Review and Prescriptions”, Nepal Rastra Bank, December 2019. Retrieved from https://www.nrb.org.np/contents/uploads/2019/12/2-1.pdf 10 “Making Access Possible: Nepal- Detailed Country Report”, UNCDF, 2016. Retrieved from https:// cenfri.org/wp-content/uploads/Nepal-Report_final-web.pdf 11 Bhatta, Krishna Prasad. “Customer Behavior and Preferences: A Survey Report”, Banking Journal, Volume 1 (Issue 1), accessed on 29 August 2020. Retrieved from http://nepalbankers.com.np/wp-content/ uploads/2018/10/download_14265045731796KPBhatta.pdf 12 Changing Dimension of Financial Inclusion in Nepal: A Comparative Analysis. NRB Working Paper No. 50. July 2020. 13 " Everest Bank Ties up with Star Hospital for discount to its cardholders", October 28,2018. Retrieved from https://b360nepal.com/everest-bank-ties-up-with-star-hospital-for-discount-to-itscardholders/ 14 " Nepal Telecom to partner with Rastriya Banijya Bank for Mobile money service like esewa" Fusion Nepal, May 7, 2019. Retrieved from http://sudinshrestha.info.np/nepal-telecom-to-partner-with-rastriyabanijya-bank-for-mobile-money-service-like-esewa/ 15 “Digitalisation in Banking and Factors that makes it more compelling”, Nepal Bankers, January 2020. Retrieved from http://nepalbankers.com.np/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/DIGITALIZATION-IN-BANKINGFINAL.pdf

16 Sharma, Sanjeev. “Banking Strategies and Disruptions: Nepali Banking Industry’s New Direction”, New Business Age, 5 November 2018. Retrieved from https://www.newbusinessage.com/MagazineArticles/ view/2315 17 Panta, Radhesh. “Challenges in Banking: A Nepalese Diaspora”, Nepalese Journal, 2007. Retrieved from https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/sedp/article/view/1043/1059 18 “Nefport 31- Banking Special”, Nepal Economic Forum, Retrieved from https://issuu.com/ nepaleconomicforum/docs/nefport_31 19 “Efficient Banking”, Risk Management, LDM, accessed on 29 August 2020. Retrieved from https:// lumbmahat.com/efficient-banking/ 20 “Financial Institutions and their effect on the Economic Growth of Nepal”, Whittaker Associates, 31 March 2017. Retrieved from https://whittakerassociates.com/financial-institutions-and-their-effect-on-theeconomic-growth-of-nepal/ 21 The Annual Bank Supervision Report (2019) revealed that banks fall short of adopting recommendations outlined in the Risk Management Guidelines issued by the NRB. Most of the risk management practices are found to be traditional, and effective risk management mechanisms are in early stages of development. While most banks have now formulated risk-related policies, their implementation has been weak because of poor risk culture. 22 “Annual Bank Supervision Report 2019”, Nepal Rastra Bank, 24 May 2020. Retrieved from https:// www.nrb.org.np/contents/uploads/2020/05/BSD-Annual-Report-2019.pdf 23 Gaire. H. N. (2011). Real Interest Rate and Saving Behaviour in Nepal. Banking Journal, Volume 2 (Issue 1) 24 ‘Banks agree to lower interest rate on deposits’. Retrieved from Kathmandu Today. December 21, 2018. https://www.ktm2day.com/banks-agree-to-lower-interest-rate-on-deposits/ 25 " Interest rate corridor becomes dysfunctional", Himalayan News Service, October 3, 2018. Retrieved from https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/interest-rate-corridor-becomes-dysfunctional 26 Gaire. H. N. (2011). Real Interest Rate and Saving Behaviour in Nepal. Banking Journal, Volume 2 (Issue 1) 27 Bhetuwal, K.R & Kantwala, B.S (2005). "Assessing the Effectiveness of Financial Sector Reforms in Nepal" Faculty of Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara. Retrieved from https:// shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/59247/20/20_summary.pdf 28 29 30 “Competition in Nepalese Commercial Banks”- Bishnu Prasad Neupane. NRB Economic Review. https://nrb.org.np/ecorev/articles/6.pdf 31 Effect of Bank Competition on Financial Stability: Empirical Evidence from Nepal. Surya Bahadur G. C., Gyaneswar Sharma. © Economic Literature, Vol. XIII (19-31), August 2016 ISSN: 2029-0789(P) 32 Boyd, J. H., & DeNicolo, G. (2005). The theory of bank risk taking and competition revisited. Journal of Finance, 60 (3), 1329-1343. 33 ibid [33] 34 Cartel enforcement and competition. ICN Special Project 2018. 35 Steven Odeu, "Uganda: Banks cautioned on margin fixing" December 11,2000. Retrieved from https://allafrica.com/stories/200012110074.html 36 Empirical analysis of collusive behaviour in the Turkish deposits market. Retrieved from https://www. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1331677X.2014.970452 37 Antitrust: Commission fines Crédit Agricole, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase € 485 million for euro

interest rate derivatives cartel 38 " EU fines five major banks over $1bn for currency collusion", AlJazeera, May 16, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/eu-fines-major-banks-1bn-currencycollusion-190516101144917.html 39 Regional cartel enforcement – a cartel in South Africa is still a cartel in the Region?, Thula Kaira - Consultant Competition & Regulatory Policy, AB & David Senior Research Fellow, CCRED. 40 Patricia Kowsmann, Margot Patrick " Major Banks Suspected of Collusion in Bond-Rigging Probe", The Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/major-bankssuspected-of-collusion-in-bond-rigging-probe-11545316280 41 Collusion in the Turkish Banking Sector. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EURASIAN ECONOMIES 2012 42 Parvez Jabri, "Indian banks pulled up by top court for 'collusion' with real estate firm", Business Recorder, July 23, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.brecorder.com/news/512192 43 Understanding the LIBOR scandal, Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/understandinglibor-scandal 44 Fixing interbank rates: A theoretical model of collusion, Nuria Boot. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/understanding-libor-scandal, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/liborscandal.asp 45 "1MDB: Cases involving ex-BSI bankers reveal web of collusion", FMT. November 30, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2016/11/30/1mdb-cases-involving-ex-bsi-bankersreveal-web-of-collusion/ 46 Jack Jordan " RBS fined 163286 million for price collusion". Retrieved from https://www.independent. co.uk/news/business/news/rbs-fined-163286m-for-price-collusion-1931571.html 47 Fixing interbank rates: A theoretical model of collusion, Nuria Boot 48 ibid. 49 Pamela Williams, "Bank shares cartel case could reshape capital markets", Financial Review, December 5, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/bank-shares-cartelcase-could-reshape-capital-markets-20191204-p53gpc 50 Towards determination of interest spread of commercial banks: Empirical evidence from Pakistan. African Journal of Business Management Vol. 6(5), pp. 1851-1862, 8 February 2012. Available online at http:// www.academicjournals.org/AJBM DOI: 10.5897/AJBM10.929 ISSN 1993-8233 ©2012 Academic Journals 51 Determinants of interest rate in emerging markets. A study of banking financial institutions in Uganda. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development © Emerald Publishing Limited 2042-5961 DOI 10.1108/WJEMSD-10-2017-0070 52 Collusive Benchmark Rates Fixing. https://www.ebos.com.cy/cresse2013/uploadfiles/2017_pa15_ pa2.pdf 53 ibid. 54 Duffie and Stein (2015) and statements by experts such as in Peterson Institute for International Economics, “Libor: A Question of Trust. Peterson Perspectives Interviews on Current Topics,” 11 July 2012 and Bank of International Settlements, “Timothy Lane: Financial benchmarks–a question of trust,” 24 March 2014. 55 Loan Syndication Structures and Price Collusion. https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/ download.cgi?db_name=AFA2019&paper_id=544 56 Carrasco, Vinicius & Manso, Gustavo. (2006). Syndication and Robust Collusion in Financial Markets. Department of Economics PUC-Rio (Brazil), Textos para discussao.

57 EU loan syndication on competition and its impact in credit markets. https://ec.europa.eu/ competition/publications/reports/kd0419330enn.pdf 58 Fixing interbank rates: A theoretical model of collusion, Nuria Boot. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/understanding-libor-scandal, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/liborscandal.asp 59 ibid. 60 George Benston (1964) “Commercial Bank Price Discrimination against Small Loans: An Emperical Study”, American Finance Association. 61 Leuvensteijn, M. v., Sørensen, C. K., Bikker, J. A., & Rixtel, A. v. (2008). Impact of Bank Competition on Interest Rate pass-through in the Euro Area. Spain: Banco de España. 62 GC, S. B., & Sharma, G. (2016). Effect of Bank Competition on Financial Stability: Empirical Evidence from Nepal. Economic Literature, Vol 13. 63 Iskenderoglu, O., & Tomak, S. (2013). Competition and Stability: An Analysis of the Turkish Banking System. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 752-762. 64 Damgaard, M. M., Conlon, D. G., & Godel, M. M. (2011). The Nature and Impact of Hardcore Cartels. London Economics 65 Møllgaard (2009) argues that the Danish pre‐insulated pipe cartel delayed innovation in the sector and Konkurrencestyrrelsen (2001) discusses productivity effects of the electricity cartel in Denmark. Connoral (2010) argues that most evidence suggests that cartels reduce industry efficiency (through lower process innovation) but no detailed evidence is presented. 66 Connor, J. M. (2014). Price-Fixing Overcharges. 67 Symeonidis, G. (2001). Price Competition, Innovation and Profitability: Theory and UK Evidence. 68 ibid. 69 Parc, J. (2014) Does cartelisation deteriorate or enhance industrial competitiveness? A case study of the Korean automotive industry. Entreprises et histoire, 76(3), 92- 106. 70 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/JES1097-203X180353 71 Khatiwada, Apurba. “Nepal Profile”, CUTS, accessed on 10 September 2020. Retrieved from https:// cuts-ccier.org/pdf/23-Nepal.pdf 72 "NRB defends commercial banks operating as cartels"; The Kathmandu Post, March 4, 2018. Retrieved from https://kathmandupost.com/money/2018/03/04/nrb-defends-commercial-banks-operatingas-cartels 73 “Tussle between two unions over government campaign”, Artha Sarokar, June 2019. Retrieved from https://www.arthasarokar.com/2019/06/NBA-DBAN-2.html 74 “Bankers Association's false cultivation of 'open bank account' government campaign”, YouTube, Artha Sarokar, 6 June 2019. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGBPFHVG19o#action=share 75 Price discrimination is the charging consumers different prices for the same goods or services in order to extract maximum profits. The kind of price discrimination talked about in the section is termed as third-degree price discrimination, where there is a minimum of two markets for the same goods with two different elasticities of demand. Producers charge a higher price where the elasticity is low and a lower price where the elasticity is high. This can be observed in the banking sector in Nepal where loans are given according to the type of consumer classified as ‘prime’ and ‘others’. High lending rates are given to small borrowers with a lower elasticity of demand and low rates are given to large borrowers with a high elasticity of demand. The lending rate difference is on an average 2%–3%. 76 “Competition, Competitiveness and Development: Lessons From Development Countries”, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, accessed on 10 September 2020. Retrieved from http://

sawtee.org/Research_Reports/R2004-02.pdf 77 Giri, Rajib. “Approach to Lending in Nepal”, New Business Age, 20 July 2020. Retrieved from https:// www.newbusinessage.com/MagazineArticles/view/2671 78 ibid. 79 "Bank promoters complain to finance minister about functioning of NRB", My Republica, January 5, 2021. Retrieved from https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/bank-promoters-complain-to-financeminister-about-functioning-of-nrb/?utm_source=xotkari

80 "Bank promoters cut credit interest rate", Himalayan News Service, April 22, 2020. Retrieved from https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/bank-promoters-cut-credit-interest-rate 81 https://ekantipur.com/business/2021/01/05/160981094492219110.html 82 https://ratopati.com/story/162022/2021/1/5/demand-with-finance-minister83 Sagar Ghimire, " Liquidity-starved banks enforce interest rate cartel" MyRepublica, January 27, 2017. Retrieved from https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/liquidity-starved-banks-enforce-interest-ratecartel/ 84 "NRB defends commercial banks operating as cartels", The Kathmandu Post, March 4, 2018. Retrieved from https://kathmandupost.com/money/2018/03/04/nrb-defends-commercial-banks-operatingas-cartels 85 Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises’ Access to Finance in Nepal. United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific MSME Financing Series No. 3. https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/03%20MSME%20financing%20in%20Nepal_to%20share_0.pdf 86 Access to Finance in Nepal: New Survey Evidence. JOHN SCHELLHASE. MILKEN INSTITUTE. https:// milkeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/2019-12/Access%20to%20Finance%20in%20Nepal.pdf 87 Sagar Ghimire, "Nepal fails to welcome even a single foreign bank", https://myrepublica. nagariknetwork.com/news/nepal-fails-to-welcome-even-a-single-foreign-bank/ 88 A Comparative Study of Merger Effect on Financial Performance of Banking and Financial Institutions in Nepal. 89 http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/793331490040216477/text/Nepal-Third-FinancialSector-Stability-Development-Policy-Credit-Project.txt 90 Jagadish Prasad Bist, "There are too many banks", Retrieved from https://uniglobe.edu.np/there-aretoo-many-banks 91 A Comparative Study of Merger Effect on Financial Performance of Banking and Financial Institutions in Nepal. 92 World Bank, " Nepal Infrastructure Sector Assessment" Retrieved from https://openknowledge. worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/32355/134956.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 93 ibid. 94 MAP Nepal, 2016. 95 Mayumi Ozaki, " Finance Sector reform in Nepal- What works, what doesn’t" Asian Development Bank. July 2018. Retrieved from https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/42959/south-asiawp-028_1.pdf 96 MAP Nepal-2016 97 ibid. 98 https://www.nrb.org.np/contents/uploads/2019/12/Annual_Reports-Annual_Bank_Supervision_ Report_2011.pdf 99 ibid.

100 The Role of Good Corporate Governance Banking Sector in Supporting Risk Management Principles as the Implementation of Prudential 101 NRB-Bank Supervision Report, 2019 102 Jonathan Charkham, "Guidance for the Directors of Banks", IFC, Retrieved from https://www.ifc.org/ wps/wcm/connect/56f8576c-0fd8-4c67-99e9-d4e6ca3a3d58/Focus_2_Guidance_for_Directors_of_Banks. pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=jtCwyo2 103 Mina Aryal, "Is NEPS Accountable for The Hacking Issues in Nepal?", ICT Frame, September 5,2019. Retrieved from https://ictframe.com/is-neps-accountable-for-the-hacking-issues-in-nepal/ 104 Paban Raj Pandey, " Time for one class of shares", The Kathmandu Post, December 10,2019. Retrieved from https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2019/12/10/time-for-one-class-of-shares

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