US Treasury backs listing threats to financial system

WASHINGTON Feb 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday said it endorsed a report from the international body fighting money laundering that blacklisted Iran, Angola, North Korea, Ecuador and Ethiopia for posing risks to the international financial system.

"The U.S. Treasury Department welcomes the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report statements this week identifying countries with strategic deficiencies in the area of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism," Treasury said.

The task force said on Thursday that Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Sao Tome and Principe were jurisdictions that also continue to have deficiencies in their systems for countering money laundering and terror financing that need to be addressed.

The task force said other countries should "advise their financial institutions to give special attention to business relationships and transactions with Iran" and with Iranian institutions to head off any "financing of terrorism risks emanating from Iran."

The task force is an intergovernmental organization, based in Paris and set up in 1989 under the auspices of the Group of Seven nations specifically to find ways to thwart terror groups from using the global banking system to launder money. (Reporting by Glenn Somerville; Editing by Kenneth Barry)