Lest anyone doubt that this is a real possibility, let us quote President Chavez, speaking on 4 May, 2007, of a new wave of nationalisation to come:

• Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost. if banks don't agree with this, it is better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me, that we nationalise them and get all the banks to work for the development of the country and not to speculate and produce huge profits. 

Look at these facts and decide whether you agree that there are just too many red flags that point to nationalisation:

• A leading Spanish-owned bank  in Venezuela is being sold to an individual with close ties to the government. Is this being done to avoid a confrontation with the Government of Spain?
  

• The Venezuelan businessman reputed to be the principal financial advisor to the Chavez family has acquired several major banks, and is seeking to merge them.
  

• Many of the so-called " Bolivarian Elite," the twenty Venezuelan entrepreneurs who have extremely favourable and lucrative government contracts, have purchased a number of the country's banks. One wonders where they obtained the funds to make those purchases; were they simply fronting for the government, or did the purchase money come from illicit sources, to be laundered upon nationalisation?
  

• If most of the country's banks are owned by the Bolivarians, they will reap a windfall when their shares are purchased by the government upon nationalisation.  

From a compliance viewpoint, nationalisation would allow Iran to hide all its international funds transfers in a non-sanctioned economic structure that could easily disguise the tainted source of funds. Remember, Iran & Venezuela already have advised that they are to form a joint bank, to be based in Tehran. Then we have the Caracas-based, Iranian-owned bank, Banco Internacional Desarrollo, with the intentionally-confusing name, which could further muddy the water.

The list of existing facilities that could then easily mainstream Iranian funds into the global economy also includes a Venezuelan government-owned bank already operating in Tehran, and an Iranian state-owned bank located in Caracas. This has the potential to become a compliance nightmare, as there will be no adequate protection from exposure to terrorist financing. 

World-Check will continue to closely monitor all develoments in this unfolding story.