Himal Press 
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KATHMANDU: The latest report of the Financial Information Unit (FIU) of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has revealed a significant rise in suspicious financial activities in Nepal.
According to the 2024 Annual Report of the FIU, the number of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) has more than doubled within a year. While 6,255 STRs were received in 2023, the figure jumped to 9,304 in 2024.
Sector-wise, a lion’s share of STRs came from commercial banks. FIU received 7,713 STRs from 20 commercial banks in the country in 2024, up from 5,282 in 2023. Similarly, it received 612 STRs from development banks, 303 from finance companies, 290 from stock brokers, 166 from payment service providers, 92 from remittance companies, 82 from life insurance companies, 14 from payment service operators, 12 from cooperatives and three from casinos, among others.
Money laundering was the most reported predicate offense in the review period, with 4,233 reports in 2024, up from 3,199 in 2023. Next were fraud (1,265),
tax-related offenses (2,876), Money, banking, and foreign exchange offenses (2,665),
Lottery and gambling (405), trade-based money laundering (32). Forgery, corruption, and bribery, and immigration-related offenses also saw moderate increases during the year.
This sharp increase in SRTs highlights growing awareness as well as potential misuse of financial systems.
The FIU conducted preliminary investigations into 18,184 financial transactions during 2024, up from 18,086 in 2023. Of these, 828 transactions were flagged for further investigation due to significant concerns, and 788 cases were forwarded to law enforcement agencies for necessary legal action.
Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs) also saw a significant rise during the period. In 2023, the FIU recorded 162.4 million CTRs, which increased to 168.2 million in 2024. The trend suggests higher volumes of large cash movements are still prevalent in the country.
According to the report, the FIU has expanded its oversight beyond traditional financial institutions such as banks to non-financial sectors including real estate, cooperatives and legal service providers. In the past fiscal year alone, 1,046 new non-financial reporting entities were registered under the FIU system.
