Fiscal Nepal
First Business News Portal in English from Nepal
KATHMANDU: Genese Solution and the Confederation of Banks and Financial Institutions Nepal (CBFIN) held a joint session in Kathmandu to discuss rising cybersecurity risks in Nepal’s banking sector as digital transactions continue to surge.
The event brought together CEOs and technology heads from major banks to review sector-wide vulnerabilities and explore ways to strengthen cyber readiness without affecting daily operations.
Genese Solution CEO and AWS Ambassador Anjani Phuyal said Nepal’s shift toward digital finance has accelerated rapidly, with digital wallet users expected to reach 23.5 million by 2025 and digital transactions rising 78% year-on-year. Yet, nearly 70% of financial institutions still do not conduct regular security audits, leaving the system exposed.
Phuyal warned that Nepal’s banking system is closely interconnected through platforms such as NCHL and NEPALPAY, meaning a cyber incident at one institution could impact the entire financial network.
Genese Solution’s presentation identified several key gaps, including uneven cloud adoption, a lack of standard security frameworks, weak incident preparedness and the absence of a national baseline to measure cyber maturity.
Genese CTO Niranjan Kunwar said global cyberattacks on banks have jumped 60% since 2020, with average breaches costing over USD 6 million. He noted that Nepal’s expanding digital economy has made it a more attractive target for cybercriminals.
While Nepal Rastra Bank’s Cybersecurity Framework 2025 provides regulatory guidance, Kunwar said institutions still need practical ways to implement security measures effectively.
To address these challenges, Genese Solution proposed a three-phase initiative.The first phase includes free cybersecurity and cloud readiness assessments for banks, with private institution-level results and only aggregate data shared with CBFIN.
The second phase would convene closed-door CXO-level meetings to develop a CBFIN Sector Resilience Roadmap (2025–2027).
The final phase would form a pilot group of 10–12 banks to test baseline improvements and develop a model that other institutions can adopt.
Under the proposal, CBFIN would lead the initiative, while Genese Solution would serve in an advisory role. Participation would be voluntary and would not require immediate financial commitments.
Phuyal said a common security baseline would help reduce compliance costs, limit disruptions from cyber incidents and strengthen public confidence in Nepal’s banking system.
CBFIN officials acknowledged the proposal and said they would review it as several institutions expressed interest in participating in the initial assessment phase.
Kunwar added that Genese’s role would be to provide technical support aligned with CBFIN’s decisions, ensuring that the process respects the autonomy of individual institutions.
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