Fiscal Nepal
First Business News Portal in English from Nepal
KATHMANDU: Veteran banker Narayan Das Manandhar, a founding Chief Executive Officer of Prime Commercial Bank, has passed away at the age of 82. He died on Sunday, according to family sources.
Manandhar’s last rites were performed in accordance with Vedic traditions at Shobha Bhagwati in Kathmandu.
A widely respected figure in Nepal’s banking and financial sector, Manandhar had retired from Prime Commercial Bank, which was established under his leadership and initiative. He was also associated with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as a consultant.
Over a career spanning several decades, Manandhar served as Executive Director of Rastriya Banijya Bank and later as Chief Executive Officer of the then Nepal Bangladesh Bank. He was also appointed CEO of the former Lumbini Bank at a critical juncture, after the bank fell into serious financial difficulty. His appointment at Lumbini Bank was widely viewed as a strategic decision supported by Nepal Rastra Bank to stabilize the institution.
Manandhar played a pivotal role in the establishment of Prime Commercial Bank and was known in the financial sector as a practical banker rather than a purely technical one. Colleagues recall that he prioritized business viability and entrepreneurial capacity over rigid balance-sheet metrics when extending credit.
“If he believed a business could run, he focused on the borrower’s capability rather than discouraging lending on technical grounds,” said bankers who worked closely with him.
He was also credited with helping bring traditionally cash-based local business communities—particularly from the New Road area and the Newar community—into the formal banking system at a time when banks struggled to attract such depositors and borrowers.
Despite serving at the highest executive levels during the sector’s modernization phase, Manandhar was known for his simplicity. At a time when most chief executives relied on computers and laptops, he managed banks largely using a calculator and mental arithmetic. Those who knew him closely described him as a banker with an exceptional ability to perform complex financial calculations from memory.
Manandhar’s death marks the passing of one of the old-generation bankers who helped shape Nepal’s modern commercial banking sector through experience-driven decision-making and ground-level engagement with customers.
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