The European Commission added Saudi Arabia, Panama, Nigeria and twenty other countries to a blacklist of nations that pose a threat because of lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering.
The follows a crackdown against money laundering after several scandals hit EU banks in recent months. But it has triggered criticism from several EU states worried about their economic relations with the listed states, notably Saudi Arabia.
Inclusion in this list indicates reputational damage to the country and further complicates financial relations with the EU. This means that banks in the EU will have will have to carry out additional checks on payments involving entities from listed jurisdictions.
In total 23 jurisdictions are listed. They are Afghanistan, American Samoa, the Bahamas, Botswana, North Korea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guam, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, US Virgin Islands and Yemen.
