FinTech

I tried OrangeNXT, a completely online bank and Here’s what I have found

January 1, 2025

We are just two days away from 2025 and Pheww, 2020 felt like a year ago. During these 5 years, almost all our transactions have gone digital with many digital wallets and mobile banking alike. It’s nothing so common for a mobile banking app to appear nowadays but what if I tell you, we have a completely online bank in Nepal with no physical location? Yes, you heard that right, it is the OrangeNXT platform. I tried their app for a month and here’s what you need to know everything about OrangeNXT.

OrangeNXT Review:

What exactly is OrangeNXT?

If you are not already familiar with OrangeNXT or haven’t heard about it to date. OrangeNXT is the first completely online banking platform in Nepal. It is developed by Laxmi Sunrise Bank and FoneNXT, a subsidiary of the PSO giant FonePay under F1Soft. At first, you might think of it as a mobile banking app of Laxmi Sunrise Bank, just as I thought back in the days. But actually, it isn’t. It is a completely different app and platform from the Laxmi Sunrise Money app on the Playstore/Appstore.

Note the word “Platform” because OrangeNXT uses a different bank account from that of the Laxmi Sunrise. Meaning, that despite having an account on the latter, you have to open a new one here.

No Physical Locations

As it is a completely online thing, there are no physical locations of OrangeNXT. But it does provide you a 24×7 customer service through mail, phone calls, and Viber/WhatsApp. And during my usage, they were swift enough to answer my queries.

5% Interest Rate

One of the key fortes of this platform is the 5% interest rate, the highest in the time being for a normal savings account standard. You get three schemes here, Elegant Savings, Kids Saving, and Remit Saver. The Remit Saver gets you a 6% interest rate and is for those receiving remittances from abroad. So, interest-wise, OrangeNXT is enticing, not gonna lie!

OrangeNXT My Experiences

Opening an Account

I heard about OrangeNXT a year ago. I thought it was an updated version of the Laxmi Sunrise mobile banking app after the merger of Laxmi and Sunrise Banks. And as I don’t have an account at Laxmi Sunrise, and none of the articles I have read, specified that it’s a different platform, I didn’t bother opening an account. Well, that was until I thought of giving it a go as I’m a FinTech-loving guy and love exploring whatever new apps are there in the e-wallet and digital banking scene.

I downloaded the app on my phone and was excited to open an account. But well, the universe had other plans I guess, I couldn’t get past the preliminary stage. To elaborate, my Honor 200 couldn’t direct to the messaging app, to get the OTP. It was frustrating honestly, but the OrangeNXT team was helpful enough to keep communicating about resolving the issue.

After all, the other plans I have mentioned above were to find out a good experience from the customer care team working 24 x 7 on the line. Well, it was a device device-specific issue as it was not prevailing on my friends’ phones. Then, I just randomly tried it again and it worked thankfully!

Opening up a new account is very very simple. You just need to fill in all your info name, date of birth, address, and so on, with a government-verified ID such as citizenship, passport, and driving license.
It takes barely 5 minutes to get things done. And inside the app itself, you can make a video call to verify your KYC. This facility is available 24×7 or you can just schedule it as per your appropriate timing. Just make sure, you have the physical copy of the ID you have used to fill up the form.
And voila, you have an account on the OrangeNXT platform. It is that simple, all without having to visit a bank, which is the case in every other bank, despite opening up an account online. Oh wait, OrangeNXT doesn’t have a physical location, giggles!

How’s the UI?

The UI on this app is pretty simple but neat, I’d say. As the name implies Orange, you get a white theme with an orange accent on some elements. Overall, the UI feels minimal and clean to me. But it can get better with smoother animation, more colored UI elements, and a search button, maybe!

Features

All sorts of payment options

As a 2024/25 mobile banking app, OrnageNXT has infused all of the major payment options. It consists of all of the FonePay payment options such as buses, education fees, insurance, capital, NEA, government payments, and such.

Special Features

But the peculiar features are expense tracker, goal-based deposit, Flexi pot, and Smart budget. As the names imply, the expense tracker shows all your income and expenditures. While the goal-based deposit is setting a fixed deposit.

Meanwhile, the Flexi pot feature is pretty amazing. Every time you make a QR payment, you can set a certain amount or percentage of the total payment amount to get saved inside Flexi-pot. Plus, you also get the same 5% interest on the Flexi-pot account and you can withdraw it anytime to the main account.

OrangeNXT Special Features — From Left to Right: Flexi Pot, Smart Budget, Expense Tracker

Likewise, the Smart Budget feature lets you allocate budget to different sections such as utilities, housing, food and drinks, personal care, and such. Just input your monthly income and spending amount and it will smartly allocate the amount on such sections. Presenting you a small folio of your spending lists with a budget. Which makes you conscious of your spending nature.

QR options and wallet loading

In terms of QR payments, you only have the FonePay QR option, as FonePay QRs are almost everywhere. But the wallet loading option is only available for eSewa which is a bummer for Khalti, IME Pay, and other wallet users. Also, transferring from your OrangeNxt account to any other bank costs you 11.30 charges per transaction using the FonePay medium. But the ConnectIPS option is arriving pretty soon too.

OrangeNXT Wallet Loading and QR Options — QR payment and Wallet Loading Options on OrangeNXT

OrangeNXT Review: Final Thoughts

I must commend OrangeNXT for its unique concept in Nepal’s digital market. With its fully online setup and operations, it stands out. Features like the 5% interest scheme, no annual charges for the app, and an easy account opening process have made it my daily driver banking app. However, I do miss a couple of key features: cardless withdrawals and debit/credit card options.

Nepal isn’t entirely ready for a cashless economy yet, as cash is still the preferred mode of payment in many places. After discussing with OrangeNXT representatives, I learned that cardless withdrawals will be introduced in a few months, and an online credit card option is also in development. However, a physical debit card doesn’t seem to be on the horizon for now. Overall, I’d rate the platform a solid 6.5 out of 10. While it’s not perfect, the upcoming features are promising—so there’s something to look forward.