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Started 4 hours ago · Updated 4 hours ago

Nepal Faces Financial Scrutiny: APG Warns of Blacklist Risk Amidst Weak Progress

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Nepal is under pressure from the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to improve its anti-money laundering efforts or risk being moved from the grey list to the more damaging blacklist. An APG delegation met with senior Nepali officials, noting that while some progress has been made, implementation of required actions remains uneven and reporting is weak. The watchdog is scrutinizing various sectors including banking, cooperatives, real estate, and tax evasion.

  • Nepal has fully met only nine out of 15 required actions under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan, with six actions remaining partially completed.
  • The APG delegation expressed concerns about the enforcement capacity and questioned recent legal changes aimed at expanding investigative authority over money laundering cases.
  • The APG has warned that failure to show measurable results could lead to Nepal's downgrade to the blacklist, a status it has been working to avoid since being placed on the grey list on February 21, 2025.
  • Key areas under scrutiny include regulation and enforcement in banking, cooperatives, real estate, precious metals, tax evasion, corruption, wildlife crime, human trafficking, and the use of shell companies for laundering money.

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Financial Action Task Force Nepal Rastra Bank David Shannon Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering

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