According to the unrefined financial reports released for the first three months of the current fiscal year, the 20 commercial banks collectively earned a net profit of Rs 19.12 billion. This marks a sharp 45.46 percent increase compared to the Rs 13.14 billion reported during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Driven by improvements in loan recovery and interest income, individual banks demonstrated strong bottom-line growth. Nabil Bank managed to earn the highest net profit of Rs 2.55 billion while Global IME Bank secured the second position with a net profit of Rs 2.31 billion. Other notable performers included Rastriya Banijya Bank (Rs 1.64 billion), Everest Bank (Rs 1.25 billion), Nepal Investment Mega Bank (Rs 1.18 billion), Prime Commercial Bank (Rs 1.18 billion), and NMB Bank (Rs 1.16 billion), all of which crossed the Rs 1.16 billion threshold.
On a percentage basis, Nepal Investment Mega Bank and Agricultural Development Bank witnessed extraordinary year-on-year growth, surging by 2,522.47 percent and 1,803.71 percent respectively. Meanwhile, Citizens Bank successfully reversed its fortunes, posting a profit after recovering from a net loss of Rs 220 million recorded in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year.
Despite the robust growth in net profits, the financial outlook remains complex for shareholders due to heavy provisioning, regulatory adjustments, and accumulated historical losses from past non-performing loans (NPLs).
As a result, the total cumulative distributable profit for the entire banking sector stood at a negative Rs 9.07 billion. Out of the 20 commercial institutions, five banks reported negative distributable figures, led by NIC Asia Bank (negative Rs 15.39 billion), Himalayan Bank (negative Rs 9.79 billion), Prabhu Bank (negative Rs 6.78 billion), Nepal Investment Mega Bank (negative Rs 5.16 billion) and Citizens Bank (negative Rs 44.84 billion).
Conversely, banks maintaining strict financial discipline are better positioned to reward their investors. Everest Bank topped the list with a healthy distributable profit of Rs 3.87 billion, closely followed by Siddhartha Bank (Rs 3.57 billion), Nepal Bank (Rs 2.75 billion), Nabil Bank (Rs 2.26 billion), NMB Bank (Rs 2.25 billion), and Standard Chartered Bank (Rs 2.22 billion).
Financial analysts note that the first quarter of the current fiscal year highlights a widening performance gap within the banking industry. While operational recovery and higher interest income have successfully boosted headline net profits by 45 percent, legacy asset-quality pressures mean that several institutions will remain constrained from distributing dividends in the near term.
