Rastriya Banijya Bank Limited (RBB)

Rastriya Banijya Bank Limited (RBB) is the largest government-owned commercial bank in Nepal. Established on 23 January 1966 (10 Magh 2022 BS), it is a Class 'A' institution licensed by Nepal Rastra Bank and is effectively wholly owned by the Government of Nepal, which holds about 99.97 percent of its shares. It serves retail customers, businesses, government offices and pensioners through one of the widest branch networks in the country.

RBB was created under the Rastriya Banijya Bank Act, 1965 to extend banking into parts of Nepal that commercial lenders were not reaching, and for much of the following three decades it was one of only two large banks covering the whole country. It was re-registered as a public limited company under the Bank and Financial Institution Act and the Companies Act, moving from a statutory corporation to a company structure while remaining in state ownership.

The bank absorbed several smaller institutions during Nepal Rastra Bank's consolidation drive, and by the 2023/24 financial year it reported paid-up capital of about Rs 15.64 billion and a workforce of more than 3,000 staff, making it one of the largest banks in the country by both branch count and employment.

RBB operates more than 300 branches together with extension counters, branchless banking points and 205 ATM outlets across all seven provinces. Its network reaches district headquarters and rural municipalities where private banks are thin on the ground, which is why much of Nepal's social security allowance, pension and local government payment traffic runs through its counters.

The central office is at Singhadurbar Plaza in Kathmandu, next to the main government secretariat, and the bank maintains large branches in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Pokhara, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Butwal, Nepalgunj, Dharan, Itahari, Janakpur, Hetauda and Dhangadhi.

The bank is connected to the global banking network through SWIFT code RBBANPKA, supporting inward remittance from Nepali workers abroad, trade settlement for importers and exporters, and correspondent banking arrangements for foreign currency transactions.