Leadership of SARFI Handed Over to Nepal Rastra Bank

Banking Khabar/ The leadership of the South Asian Regional Financial Inclusion Initiative (SARFI) has been transferred to Nepal Rastra Bank. With this transfer, Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari of the bank has been selected as the new chairperson of SARFI.

The handover took place during the ongoing “Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum” held in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, which began on 2nd September 2024.

The 15th SARFI Leaders’ Roundtable, held on Wednesday as part of the forum, formally transferred SARFI’s leadership to Nepal Rastra Bank. Governor Adhikari attended the meeting virtually and took over as chairperson.

In the same meeting, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was chosen as the vice-chair of SARFI. Previously, the Maldives Monetary Authority held the leadership of SARFI, while Governor Adhikari had served as its vice-chair.

SARFI was established during the 12th meeting of the Global Policy Forum held in Dead Sea, Jordan, in September 2022. Central banks from Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are members of this network.

The initiative was created with the goals of promoting financial inclusion through regional knowledge exchange, capacity building, joint learning practices, technical assistance, and the implementation of global and regional best practices.