The UK's Treasury has backed warnings from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that the international financial system could face "serious threats" from deficiencies in the anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) systems of countries including Iran and Pakistan.
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were also flagged up by the FATF as countries that face AML and CTF deficiencies, along with the island of Sao Tome off the coast of west Africa and the northern part of Cyprus.
As a result of the warnings, the Treasury has advised all UK businesses covered by the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 to treat transactions from Iran and Uzbekistan as "situations that by their nature can present a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing" and therefore require increased scrutiny.
People operating under the authorisation of the Financial Services Authority should also consider the advice when developing their counter-financial crime systems in order to minimise risk, it added.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body that seeks to develop nationally and internationally adopted anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing policies.
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