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European officials have warned about the proliferation of virtual international bank account numbers, or IBANs, amid concerns that terrorist financiers have used them in combination with other disruptive financial technologies to rapidly move funds across borders. By issuing virtual IBANs, unique codes of up to 34 characters in length, payment services providers without a license to operate in the EU can give merchants across the world a backdoor to pooled "parent" accounts at licensed EU financial institutions, usually electronic money firms, digital banks or other fintechs. Merchants can then use that access to receive payments in the local currencies of...