परिपत्र नं. ४ (क, ख, ग) २०८३/८४: नेपाल राष्ट्र बैंकबाट “क”, “ख” र “ग” वर्गका इजाजतपत्रप्राप्त संस्थाहरुलाई जारी गरिएको एकीकृत निर्देशन, २०८२ मा संशोधन/परिमार्जन/थप ।

The central change is a tightening of the default position: no institution may shut down or move any office or branch without prior NRB approval. A narrow self-approval carve-out now applies only in defined stress scenarios, most notably where digital transaction volumes are surging and branch rationalisation is justified within metropolitan areas. Consolidations are further constrained by a minimum-distance rule that requires at least one branch to remain within a stated radius, and by a carve-out that urban, sub-metropolitan and rural consolidations are only permissible where the entity meets the outlined conditions.

Banks targeting branches established to serve government or public bodies must obtain written consent before acting. Compliance teams should treat this as a governance and licensing control refresh rather than a purely operational matter: update internal branch-change approval workflows, re-baseline delegated authorities, refresh NRB submission templates, and confirm that any planned network optimisation for the coming fiscal year meets the new proximity and consent tests. Institutions pursuing M&A-driven integration should map branch overlaps early against the one-kilometre rule to avoid post-merger approval delays, while those with thin rural coverage should assess whether consolidation triggers any financial-inclusion expectations.

The directive remains binding regulation, so documentary evidence of NRB approval should be retained for supervisory review.