Angola needs to combat money laundering -central bank governor

LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola needs to fight money laundering and financing terrorism by focussing on ethics and morality in its banking sector the central bank's governor, Valter Filipe da Silva, said. An international money-laundering watchdog removed Angola from its blacklist in February, after reforms that included licensing banks and setting up a monitoring agency, but banks in Africa's No. 2 oil exporter are still deemed risky. Last year, the risk of financial crime and difficulty in monitoring clients forced Standard Chartered to stop its dollar-clearing operations in Angola. Bank of America stopped selling dollars to Angolan banks from December. “It is necessary to place again ethics and morality in Angolan banking and must this be placed to the service of the common good," Da Silva said at an event on Tuesday. "We must do so by implementing the prudential rules and good national practices and international and all standards to combat money laundering and terrorism financing." The Financial Action Task Force, which sets international standards for anti-money laundering and fighting terrorist financing, had added Angola to its black list in 2010. Angola has a dwindling amount of crude to sell as more of its oil flows to China for debt repayment, leaving little revenue for anything from oil sector development to health care. (Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Louise Ireland)