More than two dozen payment service providers, including e-services, IME, and Khalti, now have to do business only through authorized representatives. Rastra Bank has made a provision that the transaction should be done only through an official representative, which has changed the arrangement, if transactions were done through agents before.

The National Bank has made a new provision due to the fact that earlier transactions were done through agents, the payment service providers could not regulate and control transactions through agents, and the related payment service providers did not have integrated details of their transactions.

The limit of the total daily transactions carried out by the official representative can be determined by the relevant payment service provider organization. Details of all transactions shall be received and recorded by the relevant payment service provider through electronic means,' the instructions of the National Bank said, 'In order to monitor the transactions carried out by the official representatives, the payment service provider shall analyze the number, amount, location, trend, growth, etc. of transactions and prepare a quarterly report. The report must be submitted to the committee.'' Earlier, there was no such arrangement. Rastra Bank has also specified qualifications for official representatives, in which detailed professional and personal details including the name, address, nature of business, geographical area of ​​dealing will be required.

Details including updated proof of company registration/business registration, proof of permanent account number, certified copy of citizenship or national identity card of the founder/director must also be mentioned. 

Similarly, if there is proof of not being blacklisted in transactions with banks or financial institutions, self-declaration will have to be completed at least 3 years after the release. 

If no criminal background is shown in the police report or if it is shown, 5 years must have passed since the sentence was served. For official representatives, they must also self-declare that they are not involved in the activities of money laundering and financial investment in terrorist activities. 

Payment service provider organization has also arranged that when providing payment related services through an official representative, an agreement should be made between the two parties after competence test for selection of the official representative. When entering into an agreement in this way, it is not allowed to enter into an agreement with a condition prohibiting working as an official representative of another payment service provider organization.

It will be the responsibility of the payment service provider to monitor the official representative. The final responsibility for all payment related services provided to the customer by the authorized representative shall be the payment service provider itself,' the instruction says, 'the authorized representative shall not appoint a sub-agent or any representative.' The National Bank has also asked the subagent/representative associated with the official representative of the service provider to be converted as the official representative of the payment service provider within 3 months of the implementation of this provision or to cancel the contract and stop such service.