UAE Central Bank hands nearly $1m fine to exchange house for AML violations
The Central Bank of the UAE (‘CBUAE’) said Monday it has imposed a financial sanction of 3.5 million dirhams ($952,000) on an exchange house for failing to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing policies and procedures.
‘The financial sanction of Dh3,500,000 has been imposed after assessing the findings of an examination conducted by the CBUAE, which revealed that the exchange house failed to comply with AML/CFT policies and procedures,’ the bank said.
It emphasised that it ‘endeavors to ensure that all exchange houses, their owners, and staff abide by the UAE laws, regulations and standards established by the CBUAE to maintain transparency and integrity of the financial transactions and safeguard the UAE financial system’.
The latest penalty follows a series of larger fines imposed by the CBUAE in recent months. On 29 May, an exchange house was fined Dh100 ($27 million) after ‘significant failures’ were discovered during examinations, according to the UAE’s Khaleej Times. A day earlier, the authority imposed penalties totalling over Dh18 million ($4.9 million) against two foreign bank branches operating in the country.
In April, the CBUAE imposed a Dh200 million ($54 million) fine on another exchange house for major violations of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations, with a branch manager also fined Dh500,000 ($136,000) and permanently barred from working at licenced financial institutions in the UAE.
https://www.centralbank.ae/en/news-and-publications/news-and-insights
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/uae-imposes-dh35-million-fine-against-exchange-house
