Kathmandu. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Bishwanath Poudel has pledged to implement the suggestions received from international bodies to combat money laundering.
Governor Poudel made the commitment during a meeting led by David Shannon, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), who is visiting Nepal at the Nepal Rastra Bank on Tuesday. “The NRB is committed to implement the suggestions received from the relevant international bodies regarding the prevention of money laundering,” he said.
During the meeting, the APG team and Governor Poudel discussed the progress made by Nepal after its inclusion in the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Intensive Monitoring List (Gray-List) and the way forward. Discussions were also held on the banking sector’s anti-money laundering risk assessment and risk-based supervision, legal and policy strengthening, transparency promotion, coordination with national and international agencies and private sector, and reporting to the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG).
During the meeting, Governor Poudel and APG team also discussed the issues related to institutional capacity building and possible technical support from international financial agencies in the context of removing the grey list from the country. This is the first visit from APG after Nepal was included in the FATF’s ‘grey-list’.
APG Policy Officer Kia Sassel and World Bank officials were also present in the meeting. Executive Director of concerned departments of the bank, joint-secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Chief of Financial Information Unit were present in the meeting.
