KATHMANDU: The Nepal Rastra Bank has given approval to Nepal Clearing House to operate the first phase of retail payment switch under National Payment Switch Project.
Nepal Clearing House is a joint payment institution owned by Nepal Rastra Bank and a bank and financial institution. It has been providing payment related services through Connect IPS. Nepal Rastra Bank has 10 percent and other financial institutions have 90 percent shares in this institution.
The approval was granted after the completion of infrastructure and necessary works under the first phase of the National Payment Switch. The system will be brought into operation soon by coordinating with banks/ financial institutions, payment service providers, and payment system operators.
What is a national switch?
All kinds of electronic payment transactions and information within Nepal will be recorded through the national switch. Currently, records and information related to electronic payments are leaked outside Nepal. Deputy Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, Bam Bahadur Mishra, says that the payment system of financial institutions will be interconnected through a single window.
The approval was granted after the completion of infrastructure and necessary works under the first phase of the National Payment Switch. The system will be brought into operation soon by coordinating with banks/ financial institutions, payment service providers, and payment system operators.
In order to make the use of electronic payment instruments easy, accessible, and secure, Nepal Clearing House has been given the approval to establish the interconnection between payment cards, retail payments, QR, and other electronic payment methods in the upcoming fiscal year.
Nepal Clearing House has been working to implement the National Payment Switch in two phases. In the first phase, necessary infrastructure and payment instruments have been set up for payments including bank account, wallet, QR, etc. used in retail transactions other than cards. For the second phase, the necessary work for National Card Switch and Nepal Payment Card has been started.
After the National Payment Switch comes into operation, the Nepal QR standard published by Nepal Rastra Bank will be fully implemented, under which the NepalPay QR of the said standard will be implemented and interconnection will be established between the QRs within Nepal.
After the National Payment Switch comes into operation, the Nepal QR standard published by Nepal Rastra Bank will be fully implemented, under which the NepalPay QR of the said standard will be implemented and interconnection will be established between the QRs within Nepal.