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The mandatory opening of branches of insurance companies in rural areas, expansion of the National Health Insurance Program across 77 districts, and mandatory life insurance for people going to foreign employment alongside third-party liability vehicle insurance have played a role in the growth in insurance penetration and usage in the past decade. The new report titled "Nepal Financial Inclusion Report 2023" published jointly by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) shows the uptake of insurance has seen a notable growth from 11 percent in 2014 to 29 percent in 2022. "With banks starting cross-selling insurance products post-2014, 7 percent of adults have accessed insurance services via banks in 2022, and 22 percent of adults accessed insurance through other formal sources which are primarily insurance companies," reads the report. The usage of formal insurance has increased in both rural and urban areas, while rural areas have seen a significant increment from 8 percent in 2014 to 26 percent in 2022. The report has attributed various government-driven social security/insurance schemes as the primary reason driving insurance usage in rural areas. There has been a significant rise in access to insurance among female adults, from 7 percent in 2014 to 28 percent in 2022. Among the target groups, salaried workers have the highest access to formal insurance services at 44 percent which was 29 percent in 2014, followed by remittance receivers, up to 34 percent from 9 percent in 2014. The contribution-based social security scheme that includes insurance introduced by the government mandates salaried workers to enroll in the scheme. The implementation of the Agricultural and Cattle Insurance Directive 2020 has been a catalyst in the growth of agri-insurance. "The access to insurance by farmers increased to 23 percent in 2022 from 8 percent in 2014, which can be attributed to the increase in uptake of agriculture insurance driven by the implementation of the Agricultural and Cattle Insurance Directive 2020, which requires non-life insurance companies to allocate 5 percent of their insurance portfolio to agriculture and cattle insurance products, says the report. The government has increased the subsidy on agriculture insurance premiums from 50 percent in 2014 to 75 percent in 2019. According to the report, the overall increased access to insurance is primarily driven by the expansion of life insurance services. In the last four years, the number of life insurance policies sold has increased by a whopping 413.4 percent, from 2.73 million in FY 2016/17 to 13.09 million in FY 2021/22. The life insurance sector is primarily driven by endowment products which are with-profit policies where the net surplus received by the insurers determines the amount of bonus payable to the insured. At the same time, the non-life insurance sector is mainly driven by mandatory motor insurance followed by property insurance. "The bundling of insurance products with banking products has also resulted in increased insurance uptake," says the report. CEOs of insurance companies attribute the growth to increased awareness about insurance among the common public. The Nepal Insurance Authority has been conducting insurance awareness programs at the local level. Union Life Insurance CEO Manoj Kumar Lal Karn said that insurance access has increased as people have now started to understand that insurance is a basic need. "Insurance companies have also emphasized business expansion, which has helped to increase the access," he said.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 1, 200 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 111, 800 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 110, 600 per tola on Wednesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 111, 250 per tola. It was traded at Rs 110, 050. Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 10 and is being traded at Rs 1,445 per tola today.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 9. 18 points to close at 1,857.23 points on Wednesday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 1. 19 points to close at 355. 83 points. A total of 2,155,586-unit shares of 265 companies were traded for Rs 620 billion. Meanwhile, Atmanirbhar Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 6. 09 percent. Likewise, NIBL Growth Fund was the top loser with its price dropping by 5. 35 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 70 trillion.  

For the first time in the history of the Nepali capital market, banks are all set to receive licenses to operate stock brokerage services. With the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) issuing letters of intent (LoIs) to 16 brokerage firms including seven subsidiary companies of commercial banks on Monday, the deck has been cleared for banks to get into stock broking. The subsidiary companies of seven commercial banks, namely Nabil Bank, Nepal Investment Mega Bank, Citizens Bank, Kumari Bank, NMB Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, and Sanima Bank will be allowed to operate stock brokerage transactions. Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) was established in Nepal on January 13, 1994. In the same year, the first stock brokerage firm Sewa Securities was established. At present, there are 50 brokerage companies operating in Nepal including one stock dealer company. Banks have long sought to get permits for stock brokerage services that they intend to provide through their subsidiary companies. Sebon in 2007 introduced a policy of granting brokerage licenses to subsidiaries of BFIs. However, the plan failed after the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issued instructions that the bank's subsidiary companies could not operate as stock brokers. Similarly, influential stock brokers also lobbied heavily to stop banks from getting stock brokerage licenses. In 2017, Sebon and the Finance Ministry again started preparations to grant brokerage licenses to BFIs. The central bank, through the monetary policy, introduced a policy that brokerage licenses could be given to the subsidiaries of BFIs. However, it again got stalled after the Parliamentary Finance Committee stopped the process. After the Finance Committee’s green signal, the Sebon amended the necessary regulations and invited applications in the third week of September last year for the new stock brokerage licenses. A total of 45 companies including the subsidiaries of the commercial banks applied for the licenses. Of the 16 companies that received LoIs from Sebon for stock brokerage licenses, 7 were the subsidiaries of commercial banks. These include Nabil Securities, Mega Stock Market, CBIL Securities, KBL Securities, NMB Securities, RBB Securities, and Sanima Securities. Nabil Securities, which has a paid-up capital of Rs 1.5 billion, has received LoI for trading of shares, and to work as a share underwriter and as a qualified institutional investor. Similarly, Mega Stock, which has paid-up capital is Rs 600 million, has received LoI to manage the investment and act as a depository member.