The United Arab Emirates’ central bank (CBUAE) imposed financial sanctions on 11 banks operating in the country for their failure to reach appropriate levels of compliance on anti-money laundering and sanctions.
The regulator imposed AED45.7 million (USD12.4 million) in penalties.
“All banks operating in the UAE have been allowed ample time by the CBUAE to remedy any shortcomings and were instructed in the middle of 2019 to ensure compliance by the end of that year, informing them that further shortcomings would result in penalties under the Federal Decree-Law No. (20) of 2018 and its executive regulation,” the bank said on Sunday.
CBUAE said it will continue to work closely with all financial institutions in the UAE to achieve and maintain high levels of compliance and will continue to impose further administrative and/or financial sanctions, in cases of non-compliance.
The bank held the first Compliance Officers Forum to create a dialogue between the CBUAE and Chief Compliance Officers of all banks to discuss expectations from compliance function and banks’ risk management more generally.
The forum, chaired by Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi, governor of the UAE Central Bank, was attended by over 100 Chief Compliance Officers and other senior compliance professionals from the banking industry.
The event supports achieving the UAE’s agenda to strengthen the efforts on anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism.
Alahmadi opened the forum emphasizing the importance of compliance functions and their role in ensuring sound and comprehensive management of all risks faced by banks in the UAE.
The forum addressed several matters mainly highlighting that banks need to assess the scope and skills of their compliance function and properly embed the compliance risk within the overall risk appetite framework.
"The UAE is strongly committed to applying FATF standards to ensure that its financial system is safe and sound. We urge financial institutions to retain their focus on combatting money laundering and financing of terrorism,” Alahmadi said.
