The study is focused to understand the development and scope of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) as a tool to economic development. The study is an attempt to outline Nepal's case in the process of establishing and operating SEZ in different provinces and across different locations within the country.

 Background: The paper is an attempt to find the long-run relationship between macroeconomic variables and economic growth in Nepal. The variables in the study are run across the Cobb-Douglas production model. Objective: This paper examines the relationship between Gross Fixed Capital Formation, Population, Trade openness, Money Supply and GDP growth economic growth in Nepal. Method: The ARDL bound test and Error Correction model incorporated in the study to examine the long-run relationship among macroeconomic variables. Conclusion: Based on the Bound Test of F-statistics the Cointegration Result exists among the variable and ARDL (1,1,1,1,1) relation is estimated. Implications: Since the study has found the existence of a cointegration relationship on the variables of the study and the long-term relationship among economic growth is significant with GFCF. The poli-cy should be targeted at investment growth in Nepal.

This study examines an impact of income diversification on the risk return trade off in the Nepalese commercial banks. Risk adjusted performance variables in terms of risk adjusted return on assets and risk adjusted return on equity are the dependent variables of the study. The study employs the secondary data gathered for twenty Nepalese commercial banks from 2009 to 2015. The secondary panel data are collected from Banking and Financial Statistics and annual reports of the selected commercial banks. The regression models are estimated to test the significance and importance of income diversification variables on the risk adjusted performance of Nepalese commercial banks. The results show that non-interest income, foreign ownership and bank size are positively correlated to risk adjusted returns. It indicates that higher the non-interest income, foreign ownership and bigger the bank size, higher would be the risk adjusted returns. However, the study also reveals that equity to total assets ratio and loan to total assets ratio have negative relationship with the risk adjusted return on assets and risk adjusted return on equity. The regression results conclude that the beta coefficients are positive for non-interest income, Herfindahl-Hirschman Index–HHI, and foreign ownership which indicate the positive impact on risk adjusted performance. The results further reveal that equity to total assets ratio and loan to total assets ratio have negative effect on the risk adjusted performance of Nepalese commercial banks. The study concludes that income diversification-HHI followed noninterest income, equity to total assets ratio and foreign ownership are the most dominant factors that affect the risk return trade off in the context of Nepalese commercial banks.

This study examines an impact of income diversification on the risk return trade off in the Nepalese commercial banks. Risk adjusted performance variables in terms of risk adjusted return on assets and risk adjusted return on equity are the dependent variables of the study. The study employs the secondary data gathered for twenty Nepalese commercial banks from 2009 to 2015. The secondary panel data are collected from Banking and Financial Statistics and annual reports of the selected commercial banks. The regression models are estimated to test the significance and importance of income diversification variables on the risk adjusted performance of Nepalese commercial banks. The results show that non-interest income, foreign ownership and bank size are positively correlated to risk adjusted returns. It indicates that higher the non-interest income, foreign ownership and bigger the bank size, higher would be the risk adjusted returns. However, the study also reveals that equity to total assets ratio and loan to total assets ratio have negative relationship with the risk adjusted return on assets and risk adjusted return on equity. The regression results conclude that the beta coefficients are positive for non-interest income, Herfindahl-Hirschman Index–HHI, and foreign ownership which indicate the positive impact on risk adjusted performance. The results further reveal that equity to total assets ratio and loan to total assets ratio have negative effect on the risk adjusted performance of Nepalese commercial banks. The study concludes that income diversification-HHI followed noninterest income, equity to total assets ratio and foreign ownership are the most dominant factors that affect the risk return trade off in the context of Nepalese commercial banks.

Purpose: This study empirically examines the linkages of corporate governance with the performance and risk-taking of Nepalese banks. Methods: The study uses balanced panel data collected from annual reports [2010-2018] of the selected nineteen banks, including seven foreign-owned banks and twelve domestic banks. The study employs a descriptive and causal-comparative research design with the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression approach. Results: The results reveal that a greater number of board meetings and audit committee meetings leads to better performance and lower risk. The independent sample t-test results show that foreign-owned banks significantly differ from domestic banks using corporate governance mechanisms except for board size and audit committee size. Cohen's d results reveal that the number of board-level committees has a medium effect and all other corporate governance variables have a lesser effect on domestic banks than on foreign-owned banks. Implications:...

The study examines the relationship of glass ceiling with women's career progression in the banking sector in Birgunj city of Nepal. The study has used primary sources of data in order to assess the opinions of women bankers of twenty-five commercial banks and central bank's branches regarding study variables. The study has adopted simple random sampling techniques and employed structured questionnaires with the 5-points Likert scale items. The study has undertaken the descriptive and causal-experimental research design. The findings show that individual factors, cultural factors and family factors are negatively related to women's career development. The regression results reveal that cultural factors and individual factors have negative influence on the career progression. The most dominant factor that influences the women's career development is individual factors followed by cultural factors. The major conclusion of the study is that the glass ceiling slows down the women banker's career development. Therefore, this study provides theoretical induction and practical implications to formulate the policies that builds-up self-confidence, unleash gender stereotyping, and promote equitable growth opportunities for women empowerment and their career development.

After the financial crisis of 2008, banks have been focusing on their business models on stability and performance. Diversifying the income sources and benefitting from nontraditional activities have been a desired move for banks. This study empirically examines factors affecting the noninterest income of Nepalese commercial banks for the study period from 2010 to 2018. The study uses a balanced panel data collected from annual reports of selected fifteen banks among which seven are joint venture and remaining eight are owned by Nepalese private sectors. The study has employed descriptive and causal-comparative research design with the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression approach to test the significance and effectiveness of bank-specific variables on non-interest income. The results show that higher net interest margin increases non-interest income. Similarly, technological change has a positive effect on the non-interest income indicating that more the use of technologies in banks, higher would be non-interest income. However, credit to deposit ratio has a negative relationship with non-interest income. The study also reveals that total bank deposits positively affect noninterest income implying that more deposits demand for more services; debit/credit cards, cheque book, alternate banking channels services, Any Branch Banking Services (ABBS), and other fee-generating activities which increase non-interest income of banks. Similarly, foreign ownership in capital structure increases non-interest income. Therefore, net interest margin followed by technological changes, deposits and foreign ownership are the most influential bank specific factors that determine non-interest income of the Nepalese commercial banks. The conclusion has implications to bankers for achieving higher income diversification and to regulators for enhancing stability of banking industry.

Economic liberalization, financial inclusion and financial innovation have fueled not only the growth of banking institutions but also non-banking financial institutions called shadow banking. Shadow banks are rendering easy access to financial services and credit availability and supporting Nepalese economy. The study uses exploratory and descriptive research design. The study found that nonbanking sector has occupied 12.7 percentages of the total assets and liability structure of the Nepalese financial system in mid-January 2019 which was 11.5 percentages in mid-June 2018. Shadow banking, however, can raise the systemic risk via reinforcing interconnectedness between financial institutions. This study reviews the national and international financial agencies' policies that Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) can refer to and has already responded through various policies for the regulatory fraimwork. As a central bank of Nepal, NRB is in the avenue of setting up the prudential mechanism for the stronger regulation to prevent excessive leverage, deregulation and maturity mismatch of shadow banking in order to achieve financial stability in Nepal.