Nepal has a unique geography consisting of mountains, hills and Terai, which makes it difficult for any financial institution to provide financial services to every part of the country. Formal and informal financial service providers have been attempting to reach more customers at various levels and provide them with a range of financial services. Various studies have shown that people have become aware of different types of financial services, which suggests that people use them more now than they did in the past.
This research was an attempt to take a deeper look at people’s experience of existing financial services and their providers. In addition, it aimed to identify definitive indicators that would help to create a roadmap for the delivery of effective financial services in Nepal. The research covered 25 districts spread over five development regions. During the research, the team spoke to 1,019 respondents and tried to understand their perspectives on existing financial services using six different qualitative research tools: focus-group discussions, lifecycle analysis, financial sector trend analysis, seasonality analysis, product attribute ranking and relative preference ranking.
It is sincerely hoped that this report will go a long way toward creating more understanding of customers’ perspectives of prevailing financial products and services in Nepal and identifying key areas where specific interventions can develop more inclusive and effective financial services in the country as a whole.
