KATHMANDU: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has announced a policy shift to strengthen the monitoring, investigation, and prosecution of suspicious financial transactions in an effort to remove Nepal from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The new monetary policy for the fiscal year 2025/26, unveiled on Friday, emphasizes an urgent and coordinated implementation of measures outlined in the FATF-mandated action plan.

The monetary policy states that effective coordination among relevant institutions will be ensured to fulfill the action points Nepal has received to exit FATF’s enhanced surveillance list, also known as the grey list.

It further highlights that monitoring, investigation, and legal enforcement mechanisms will be reinforced to fully implement the national strategy and action plan related to anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT).

The policy also references the third round of Nepal’s mutual evaluation report by the Asia-Pacific Group (APG), noting that recommendations and priority reforms suggested for regulatory agencies will be implemented with urgency.

In addition, NRB plans to automate the operations of its Financial Information Unit (FIU) to enable faster and more effective financial intelligence sharing with concerned authorities.

This is expected to enhance the efficiency of investigations and facilitate Nepal’s removal from the grey list.