The European Commission has blacklisted 23 nations having massive deficiencies in their regime on anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing.
Among them were six African countries – Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Libya, Nigeria, and Tunisia.
The commission says the blacklisted countries pose risks to EU’s financial system and this should serve as a warning and guidance to the banking and financial sector that they must use extra caution with transactions involving those countries.
Libya, Botswana, Ghana, Samoa, the Bahamas were newcomers to the list. Others in the list are; Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Bosnia, Guyana, Laos and Uganda were removed the list.
As a result of the listing, banks and other entities covered by EU anti-money laundering rules will be required to apply increased checks on financial operations involving customers and financial institutions from these high-risk countries to better identify any suspicious money flows.
