In Brief: Cuban Deals Added to List Barred to Banks

The list of people and businesses the government prevents banks from dealing with just got a little longer.

This month, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control prohibited banks from lending to people buying land or goods seized by the Cuban government after the 1959 communist-led takeover.

The office, which is best known for its rules preventing banks from doing business with firms in Iraq and North Korea, has come under fire lately. Bankers charge that its list of prohibited firms is too long and that the penalties for a slip are too severe. The office collected $1.6 million in fines last year, Treasury officials said.

Updated information from the agency is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ustreas.gov/treasury/services/fac/fac.html, or via fax at 202-622-0077.

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