The U.S. Treasury Department has lifted a designation against Nauru, the world's smallest independent republic, that required heightened scrutiny by U.S. financial institutions for money laundering abuses. The department designated the country a primary money laundering concern in December 2002. The following year, the Treasury Department issued a proposed prohibition on opening and maintaining correspondent and payable-through accounts with institutions in the jurisdiction. At that time, hundreds of shell banks without a physical presence operated in Nauru. For instance, 400 offshore banks cited the same 1,000 square-foot wooden structure as a primary address, the department said. The Treasury Department's Financial...
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