Accelerating Financial Inclusion in Nepal with RegTech - A Case Study on the Nepal Financial Inclusion Portal

In 2015, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank of Nepal had the herculean task of ensuring financial access for its population in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake without visibility on the existing financial access points and a well-diversified network of institutions. NRB's in-house system at the time focused solely on liquidity and stability-related data. It did not have a complete system with monitoring and oversight tools. Due to the lack of geographic information systems (GIS), visualisation tools and standard coding mechanisms, less attention was placed on the financial inclusion sector.

NRB took on a leadership role and collaborated with UNCDF to develop a system that enabled it to identify areas that require financial services and understand the need and operational scope of financial access points. The system is a Regulatory Technology (RegTech) solution that is built on geographic (spatial) data provided by the banking and financial institutions of Nepal.

This publication presents the system now known as the Nepal Financial Inclusion Portal (NFIP).