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Watchdog warns on pariah states

Jasper SkyOctober 24, 2014

A global financial watchdog has warned that Iran and North Korea have not addressed money-laundering or funding of terrorism. It said banks should be wary of business deals or transactions involving either state.

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Nordkoreanische Geldscheine
Image: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental agency, called on Iran and North Korea on Friday to take steps to combat money-laundering and thwart the financing of terrorism.

FATF, made up of 37 countries as well as the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council, said the steps were necessary to protect the global financial system from ongoing threats.

In a report, FATF highlighted North Korea and Iran as being of special concern, but also issued warnings about Algeria, Ecuador, Indonesia and Myanmar.

The latter four countries "have failed to make sufficient progress" or have not committed to addressing deficiencies that pose a serious risk to the international community, FATF said.

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FATF listed 18 other developing states that in its judgment had failed to live up to international standards, but said they at least had made high-level written commitments to try to improve.

None of the six countries singled out for special criticism by the FATF on Friday were members of the watchdog agency - which includes a range of mostly Western industrialized countries among its members, but also Inda, Turkey, Russia, China and South Africa.