Riggs Bank Problems Leave Foreign Embassies Without Any U.S. Banks

Riggs Bank’s problems in managing the accounts of foreign governments—a factor in the recent sale of the bank—has resulted in closing of the Riggs accounts of more than 100 embassies, as of mid-July. On June 15,2004, six financial regulatory agencies issued guidance on how such accounts should be handled. Several embassies have expressed concern about their ability to find banks for their accounts.