Several North Korean banks have been banned from accessing an international financial messaging system.

The Wall Street Journal(WSJ) reported on Wednesday that the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as SWIFT, recently stopped providing financial services to several North Korean banks sanctioned by the United Nations.

The U.S. daily said that SWIFT’s move follows a UN panel report last week that found evidence North Korea was relying on continued access to the international banking system.

The three blacklisted banks reportedly named by the UN panel are Bank of East Land, Korea Daesong Bank and Korea Kwangson Banking Corporation.

Belgium-based SWIFT was established in 1977 by European and American banks, and its messaging system is used by more than eleven-thousand financial institutions in more than 200 countries.

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