Pakistan’s anti-money laundering authority has raised the daily cash transaction reporting threshold from Rs2 million to Rs3 million and widened the country’s money-laundering framework, in decisions taken at its National Executive Committee meeting in Islamabad on October 27, 2026.
What happened?
The National Executive Committee of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Authority, chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, approved four changes to the framework at its 19th meeting. The committee added piracy as a money-laundering predicate offence, gave the virtual assets regulator reporting-agency powers, cleared in principle the extension of anti-money laundering powers to provincial anti-corruption bodies, and raised the currency transaction reporting threshold.
Key details
- The threshold for Currency Transaction Reports, the routine reports banks file on large cash transactions, rises from Rs2 million to Rs3 million a day.
- Piracy, under Section 28 of the Pakistan Maritime Zones Act, is added to Schedule I of the Anti-Money Laundering Act as a predicate offence, meaning its proceeds can be pursued as money laundering.
- The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) is added to Schedule IV of the Act, giving it a formal place among the country’s anti-money laundering supervisors alongside the State Bank, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and others.
- Extension of anti-money laundering powers to provincial anti-corruption authorities was cleared in principle, subject to final standard operating procedures to prevent misuse.
- The committee also directed the Financial Monitoring Unit to build capacity and prepare a clear roadmap, including its work on artificial intelligence and machine learning tools for analysing suspicious transactions.
- The committee’s approval still needs to be given legal effect through a formal notification, and the effective date has not yet been confirmed, so banks will continue to follow the threshold legally in force until that notification appears.
What it means for people in Pakistan
For ordinary bank customers, the change means a cash deposit or withdrawal of, for example, Rs2.5 million will no longer automatically trigger a routine report solely because of its size, although banks must still monitor accounts for suspicious activity. For businesses that handle large amounts of cash, the higher threshold reduces routine paperwork, while the wider framework, including the new virtual assets supervision, tightens oversight of newer financial channels.
Source: https://khabarwire.com/blog/pakistan-aml-authority-piracy-cash-threshold-2026-10-28/
