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Friday, November 14, 2025
Under US pressure, Lebanon announces stricter money transfer rules
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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon announces that money changers and transfer companies must comply with stricter rules as the country faces heavy US pressure to regulate its cash economy and cut off Hezbollah funding.
The move comes days after a visiting US official said his country was determined to cut off Tehran’s funding to the group, and after the US Treasury said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had transferred over $1 billion to Hezbollah this year, mainly via money exchange companies.
Lebanese authorities are seeking to disarm Hezbollah, which was badly weakened in a recent war with Israel, and face heavy US pressure to do so more quickly as well as fears of expanded Israeli military action.
As part of efforts “to remove Lebanon from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list… the central bank of Lebanon today has taken the first step in a series of precautionary measures aiming to strengthen the compliance environment within the financial sector,” a central bank statement says.
The FATF in October last year added Lebanon to its “grey list” of nations that are subject to increased monitoring of financial transactions.
The central bank says it was imposing measures “on all non-bank financial institutions licenced by the central bank of Lebanon, including money transfer companies, exchange bureaus,” and other firms handling foreign currency transactions and transfers to and from the country.
According to a central bank circular, from December 1, all non-bank financial institutions must “collect information and data linked to their customers and operations” for transactions of $1,000 or more and report them to the central bank.
Institutions must confirm they have collected the required information before carrying out any transaction, the circular adds.
The measures are consistent “with international standards on fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, and preventing the misuse of the authorised financial system for suspicious transactions.”
The Times of Israel Community.