The post New Portal to Assess Nepal’s Financial Inclusion appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) launched the Nepal Financial Inclusion Portal developed in collaboration with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) with an aim to give a realistic picture about financial access and usage of related services in Nepal.
The portal provides:
- Consolidated analytical reports on financial inclusion for policy intervention driven by data
- Helps regulatory in effective reporting of their financial data in a systematic manner
- Support to central bank and governmental bodies in preparing a national financial structure to increase financial access
“The availability of data and information on banking and financial access and inclusion helps the government in formulating necessary policies and programmes targeted to the rural areas. It is very important for policymakers as they can develop policies and financial strategies by looking at this portal,” NRB Governor Chiranjibi Nepal.
According to NRB, the portal will also list the data of remote rural areas that are not easily accessible even for the government and regulatory bodies.
Chiranjibi feels that the portal will help both the central and state governments in developing an efficient financial structure that would enhance financial access, thus driving overall economic growth of the country.
By bringing in a financial inclusion, the new portal is expected to increase the ability of local levels in gaining complete access to government services.
UNDP on Nepal’s Financial Inclusion
Speaking on the side-lines of the portal launch, UNDP Deputy Country Director Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe pitched on the need for literacy and technology as means to achieve financial inclusion.
Illiteracy, connectivity, lack of savings & income, and distrust in banking or financial institutions are some of the key barriers for financial inclusion, she added.
In this regard, she said the new portal is definitely an opportunity for Nepal in achieving its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the 2030 agenda.
“One of the aims of the SDGs is to leave no one behind. The challenge that we have in front of us is how to get the financial access, literacy, infrastructure and technology to these 753 local units,” adds Ayshanie.
“If the data is available, you can know the needs and behaviors of consumers,” said Francois Coupienne of the UNCDF, while adding that as a tremendous opportunity for policy makers.
“There is a huge gap between the different needs and aspirations of each individual and the ‘one size fits all’ approach of the financial services providers. Innovation, technology and data will play a key role in filing this gap,” adds Francois.
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]]>The post Nepal Mulls New Regulatory to Check Bullion Transactions appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
]]>The new regulatory aims to bring in transparency and curb illegal money flow in the trading of precious metals.
The latest decision is coming after the concerned authorities reported irregularities in the sector and sought legal intervention to monitor transaction flow in the sector.
Following this, the National Coordination Committee formed to check money laundering in collaboration with various government agencies proposed to form a regulatory body to check money laundering.
“The committee headed by Finance Secretary recently recommended the government to pick the regulator from among the three agencies— Inland Revenue Department, Department of Revenue Investigation and Department of Commerce and Supply Management. The Cabinet should decide on the regulator,” informed Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DoMLI) Director General Jiwan Prakash Sitaula.
Current Scenario
It’s really surprising to know that Nepali bullion sector lacks a regulatory despite running billions worth transactions in the trading process.
In the current scenario, banks report to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) in case of suspicious transactions around Rs 1 million.
“The move to appoint regulator in bullion market aims to implement ‘Know Your Customer’. It would identify people who do gold transactions and monitor those who invest illegal earned money in gold,” says Binod Lamichhane, DoMLI Spokesperson.
How New Regulatory Helps?
According to Binod, the new regulatory also aims to follow recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering body.
FATF is basically an inter-governmental agency that mandates effective implementation of regulatory, legal and operational measures to curb money laundering and terrorist financing.
In line with FATF recommendations, the Money Laundering Prevention Act also mandates bullion traders to have records of customers doing Rs1 million or above worth precious metal transactions in a day.
However, FATF’s 2015 study states that criminals use gold as an alternative to move their illegal assets by overcoming the existing regulatory against money laundering activity.
This is a serious concern for Nepal considering the country’s vulnerability to gold smuggling.
According to the statistics, Nepal saw around 3.79 tons of smuggled gold worth Rs 17.01 billion in the last one-and-a-half-year period during July 2015-February 2017. Surprisingly, the value of smuggled gold then was literally 61 percent of the total legally-imported gold during that period.
Considering the statistics and the existing scenario, Nepal would definitely a regulatory that can tackle the illegal transactions in its bullion sector that involves trading of precious metals.
The post Nepal Mulls New Regulatory to Check Bullion Transactions appeared first on Nepali Sansar.
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