NRB Unified Payment Directive 2026: What Changed for Prepaid Cards

Most people only notice a payment directive when their card suddenly behaves differently, an ATM refuses a withdrawal it used to allow, or a bank declines to issue a second prepaid card on the same account. In April 2026, Nepal Rastra Bank issued the Unified Payment System Directive, 2082, rewriting a wide set of rules for debit, credit, and prepaid cards at once. This guide focuses specifically on what changed for prepaid cards, the everyday transaction limits, the new restriction on holding duplicate cards, and the security requirements banks now have to meet.

The New Prepaid Card Limits

The most directly relevant change for everyday prepaid card holders is the transaction ceiling itself. These limits apply specifically to prepaid instruments and sit noticeably lower than the equivalent debit card limits, reflecting the lower-risk, stored-value nature of prepaid products.

Debit card limits were revised down from the prior Rs 25,000 per transaction, Rs 100,000 per day, and Rs 400,000 per month. Figures reflect the April 2026 directive as reported at time of writing; confirm current limits with your bank, as NRB periodically issues further amending circulars.

One Card Per Type, Per Account

A significant structural change in the directive prohibits banks and financial institutions from issuing more than one card of the same type, debit, credit, or prepaid, from a single customer account. In practice, this means you cannot hold two prepaid dollar cards linked to the same account at the same bank; if you want a second card, it typically needs to sit on a separate account. NRB officials confirmed this rule does not apply to the upcoming Nepal Pay Card issued by Nepal Clearing House Limited, which is treated as a distinct scheme. The stated intent behind the rule is to streamline payment operations and reduce the operational and fraud-monitoring burden of tracking multiple identical instruments tied to one account.

Security and Operational Changes

Beyond limits, the directive tightens how banks are expected to operate their payment systems day to day. NRB now requires faster resolution of failed transactions: disputes are expected to be settled by the next day when handled within the same bank, or within three days when different institutions are involved. Banks must also identify VPN usage in mobile and internet banking and block login access for unauthorized VPN connections, a direct response to fraud patterns exploiting anonymized network access. Licensed institutions are further required to run regular Disaster Recovery drills for their payment systems, submitting a report to NRB within 15 days of each drill, and to store transaction data only in centers approved under Nepal's Data Center and Cloud Services Directive, 2081. At the same time, NRB scrapped the previous mandatory SMS notification requirement after every transaction, easing one customer communication obligation even as it tightened others.

The National ID Requirement for Wallets

A separate but related update arrived in July 2026, when NRB issued the 15th amendment to the Integrated Payment Systems Directive, 2082, making the National ID mandatory for digital wallet users. Licensed payment service providers must now verify the electronic records of a user's National ID before opening a wallet, and existing wallet users who already hold a National ID are required to update their wallet details with that number. Institutions must also collect self-declarations from users about whether they possess a National ID, with a compliance deadline of the end of Ashwin 2083, which falls on October 17, 2026.

Why This Matters for Prepaid Card Holders Specifically

For someone using a prepaid dollar card for online purchases, the most tangible day-to-day effect is the Rs 10,000 per transaction and Rs 20,000 per day ceiling on prepaid instruments, which is separate from and lower than the annual USD facility set for foreign exchange purposes. A single large online purchase that exceeds these NPR-denominated limits may need to be split across days or paid through a different channel, even if the underlying USD balance on the card is sufficient. Combined with the one-card-per-account rule, cardholders now have less flexibility to route around limits by opening duplicate cards, making it more important to plan larger purchases around the actual per-transaction and per-day ceilings rather than assuming the card's total balance is the only constraint.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

NRB's 2026 Unified Payment System Directive is less about any single headline number and more about tightening the overall system: lower prepaid transaction ceilings, one card per type per account, faster dispute resolution, and stricter security and data-localization requirements for banks. If you rely on a prepaid dollar card for larger purchases, the Rs 10,000 per transaction and Rs 20,000 per day limits are now the practical constraint to plan around, separate from your annual USD facility. Keep an eye on further circulars, since NRB has shown a pattern of amending this directive multiple times within the same year.