World view · economy
FATF Anti-Money-Laundering
सम्पत्ति शुद्धीकरण निगरानी
Nepal · 2026
Grey List
Trajectory · 2008–2026
FATF Anti-Money-Laundering
Financial Action Task Force
Linear extrapolation of the last 5-year trend — illustrative only, not a forecast.
Solid — measured history
Dashed — if current trend continues
Green dotted — reform scenario (1.5× current pace)
Honest caveat: projections are linear extrapolation of the last 5 observed years. Real-world indices change non-linearly with policy shocks, elections, and external events. This tool answers "where would this go if nothing changes?" — it is not a forecast. For real change, see the "what would move this" panel below.
Why Nepal is here
FATF retained Nepal on the grey list as of June 2026, citing unaddressed strategic deficiencies — hawala transactions, cooperative-sector supervision, casinos, real-estate AML, and ML investigations of politically-exposed persons. Some progress has been recognised, but the FATF action-plan deadline is mid-2027. Banks abroad continue to apply enhanced due-diligence on Nepal correspondent accounts. Pakistan took ~4 years to exit; Sri Lanka took 2.
The short version
A group of countries watches the world's money to stop crime. They put Nepal on a "watch list" in 2025 because we do not check carefully enough where big money is coming from. They kept us on it in June 2026 because we still have work to do — banks abroad now treat Nepal more carefully, which makes everything cost more.
Inside the score
The headline number breaks down into these sub-scores — these are the levers.
Beneficial-ownership transparency
22/100
No public registry; shell-company misuse in real-estate flagged by FATF assessors
Real-estate sector AML
18/100
Cash purchases of land remain common; reporting obligations rarely enforced
Cooperative-sector supervision
25/100
34,000+ co-operatives; recent collapses (Oriental, Janasewa) showed AML gaps
Investigation of PEPs
30/100
Politically-exposed persons rarely investigated for ML; conviction count single-digit per year
International co-operation
55/100
Strongest area — NRB and FIU exchange info with FATF/Egmont Group regularly
SAARC scoreboard
How Nepal compares to its neighbours on this index, latest year.
What would actually move this
Three concrete actions — each tied to where a comparable country actually moved on this metric.
- 1
Implement the FATF action plan in full — beneficial-ownership registry, real-estate AML rules, cooperative-sector supervision.
- 2
Empower the Department of Money Laundering Investigation with prosecutorial autonomy.
- 3
Mandatory AML training and conviction-rate dashboards for the Nepal Rastra Bank-supervised institutions.
Countries that moved — and how
Real reform episodes from countries roughly our size or context. Each shows that significant movement is possible within a decade.
Pakistan 🇵🇰
Grey-listed 2018 → Removed Oct 2022
Cabinet-level FATF co-ordination cell, 34/40 action items closed, ML convictions tripled.
Mauritius 🇲🇺
Grey-listed Feb 2020 → Removed Oct 2021
Fastest exit on record — full beneficial-ownership registry, real-estate AML rules, supervisory crackdown.
UAE 🇦🇪
Grey-listed Mar 2022 → Removed Feb 2024
Specialised ML courts, real-estate sector reform, executive sanctions against complicit firms.
Source · cited verbatim
Financial Action Task Force — FATF Anti-Money-Laundering, 2026
Open the publisher's releaseAll values on this page are taken directly from this source. Year and confidence level is shown on each card. If you find a discrepancy with the publisher's current dataset, please report it.