Nepal Clearing House's bank-account payment rail — how connectIPS works for merchants, onboarding through your bank, and when it beats wallets.
connectIPS is the rail most tourists to Nepali payments overlook and most banked customers recognise instantly: pay straight from your bank account, through your own bank’s app, with no wallet in the middle. It is operated by Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL) — the same infrastructure company behind the interbank clearing system — which is why it carries a weight of institutional trust that consumer wallets spent a decade earning.
How it works
The customer installs connectIPS (or uses their bank’s integrated channel), links their bank account, and pays merchants by selecting the merchant and confirming — account to account. There is no wallet balance to top up, no intermediary holding funds. For the merchant, money moves on NCHL’s settlement rails toward the business bank account.
Two properties define it:
- No top-up ceiling. Wallet limits constrain big purchases; a bank account does not. For high-ticket commerce — electronics, tuition, B2B invoices, property deposits — connectIPS is often the rail that actually closes the sale.
- Institutional trust. Paying from your bank via a central-bank-adjacent clearing house is the most conservative payment behaviour a Nepali customer can have. Older, wealthier and corporate customers default to it.
Merchant onboarding
connectIPS merchant onboarding runs through participating banks:
- Talk to the bank that holds your business account — ask for connectIPS merchant enrollment.
- Provide the standard set: business registration, PAN/VAT, and your bank account details (the account is the settlement destination, and the name must match your registered business).
- The bank provisions your merchant profile and provides integration credentials.
- Integrate: NCHL publishes merchant API documentation, and the common carts have plugins for the major Nepali rails. Test with the bank before announcing it live.
Because onboarding is bank-mediated, timelines follow your bank’s process. Ask your relationship manager for the current fee schedule and settlement cycle in writing — they vary by bank and change over time, and we do not publish numbers that can go stale.
Where it fits in the stack
connectIPS is not a replacement for wallets — it is the bank-rail complement:
| Customer type | Default rail |
|---|---|
| Mass-market, small tickets | Wallets — eSewa, Khalti |
| Walk-in retail | Interoperable QR — FonePay |
| High-ticket, banked, corporate | connectIPS |
| International buyers | Cards / international payment routes |
The checkout-UX tradeoff is real: bank rails add steps (app switch, login, confirmation), so present connectIPS as an explicit option for larger amounts rather than the default for a Rs 300 order. Offer both, label them clearly, and let the customer’s habits decide. The full rail comparison is in our payment gateways field guide.
FAQ
What is connectIPS, in one sentence?
A payment system from Nepal Clearing House (NCHL) that lets customers pay directly from their bank accounts through their bank's connectIPS app or channel — account-to-account, without a wallet in the middle.
How does a business start accepting connectIPS?
Through your bank: connectIPS merchant onboarding runs via participating banks, which provision your merchant profile against your business account. Bring your business registration, PAN/VAT and bank details.
When should a store offer connectIPS instead of (or alongside) wallets?
Alongside, always — and as the *primary* rail when tickets are large. Bank-account payments avoid wallet top-up ceilings, which matters for expensive items, and many customers simply prefer paying from their bank.