UAE Central Bank imposes Dh19.5m penalty on a bank

Under the country’s Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Illegal Organizations statute, the UAE’s Central Bank has issued a Dh19.5 million punishment on a bank.

This relates to the bank’s failure to achieve “appropriate levels of compliance” in its AML and sanctions compliance frameworks for an extended period of time. All banks operating in the UAE are required to attain the appropriate levels of AML/CFT compliance standards, “having been allowed ample time by the CBUAE to remedy any shortcomings”.

The bank concerned has the right to appeal against the imposition of the sanction.
Ahead of the decision, the Central Bank took a two-step approach to the enforcement. On August 4, the regulator imposed monitoring on the bank to require the appointment of a consultant to take necessary urgent action to effect remediation of its AML and Sanctions Compliance Framework.

The Central Bank will keep an eye on the situation and continue to cooperate with the sanctioned bank to complete the restoration process. On November 4, a fine of Dh19.5 million was imposed.