FATF Announces Countries with Superior Banking Privacy

The Financial Action Task Force, "the global standard setting body for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism", identified eight countries that have strategic AML/CFT deficiencies, i.e., countries where banks mind their own business and don't probe into customers affairs.

The U.S. Treasury Department released the following statement in response to the FATF’s identifications.

The U.S. Treasury Department welcomes the FATF statements this week identifying countries with strategic deficiencies in the area of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. The FATF’s work in this area, which responds to the G20’s call for such action, is an important step in our collective efforts to protect the international financial system from abuse. We also welcome FATF’s renewed call today for its members and all jurisdictions to apply effective counter-measures to protect their financial sectors from the money laundering and terrorist financing risks emanating from Iran.

The countries named are:

New to the List

Angola
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
Ecuador
Ethiopia

Already on List

Pakistan
Turkmenistan
São Tomé and Príncipe