FinCEN adds new areas of concern for money laundering activities

WASHINGTON-The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has added five new countries to its list of nations with "serious deficiencies in their counter-money-laundering systems," according to a release from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Recently included in the list are Burma (Myanmar), Ukraine, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Grenada, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. FinCEN has advised financial institutions to exercise "enhanced scrutiny to all financial transactions originating in or routed to or through the named countries, or involving entities organized or domiciled, or persons maintaining accounts, in the named countries." Other nations included on the list are the Cook Islands, Dominica, Israel, Lebanon, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, the Seychelles, and Ukraine.