Increasing access to rural finance is often the last frontier for financial sector development in developing countries. Financial institutions aiming to operate in rural areas in these countries usually have to deal with high transaction costs, low population densities, remote areas, and a heavy...

Over the past 20 years Nepal's financial sector has become deeper and the number and type of financial intermediaries have grown rapidly. Recent reforms have also made the banking sector more stable. Still, access to financial services remains limited for many people in Nepal, and has even been...

Ceilings on lending rates remain a widely used policy tool that is intended to lower the overall cost of credit or protect consumers from exorbitant rates. Interest rate caps come in many forms and scopes and, according to their rationale, ceilings can affect a small segment or the overall...