ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to discontinue Rs25,000 denomination prize bonds.

The move is aimed at addressing concerns of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that has put Pakistan on its grey list over reported failure to check money laundering and terror financing.

In the first phase, the Rs25,000 denomination bonds will be converted into premium bonds with their registration to start by December-end. Afterward, the Rs15,000 and Rs7,000 denomination prize bonds will be registered.

The sources said that bond holders will have to submit a copy of their CNIC and fill a form to be provided by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for encashment of their bonds. The prize on all types of denominations will not be given in cash but transferred to bond holders’ account.

Earlier, the government had discontinued Rs40,000 denomination prize bonds to check the practice of parking of ill-gotten money through these bonds in line with the Paris-based global watchdog’s guidelines. NNI