Central Bank of UAE Penalized Exchange House Dhs504,000 for AML/CFT Breach

UAE’s exchange house has weak measures to fight money laundering and terrorism financing and require a better framework.

The Central Bank of the UAE, (CBUAE) said that it has penalized an exchange house that was working in the country with Dhs504,000. It has been reported that it was due to the non-compliance with the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations. The Central Bank reviewed the poor history of the exchange house’s compliance measure with the regulations before finalizing the penalty. 

The name of the exchange house has been kept anonymous but the fine was imposed “the pursuant to Article 14 of the Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organisations.”

The Central Bank states that all the exchange house operating in the UAE’s jurisdiction must ensure that they abide by the regulatory framework regarding the illicit financial crimes such as money laundering and terrorism financing. They must ensure the standards issued by the UAE laws and regulations regarding the safekeeping the transparency of the exchange house’s transactions. 

#CBUAE imposes financial sanction on exchange house operating in #UAE.#UEA_BARQ_EN pic.twitter.com/rhWZlW3Xnw

— UAE BARQ (@UAE_BARQ_EN) February 10, 2021

UAE is already strengthening the country’s framework to prevent money laundering and terrorism. Just last month, the Central Bank penalized 11 banks a total of Dhs45.75m for breaching financial regulations. The banks failed to improve their compliance framework for sanctions and money laundering.