The Central Bank issues two guidelines for reporting suspicious transactions and legal persons

The UAE raises the assessment of its system to combat money laundering and terrorist financing

The Central Bank stressed that the new guidelines contribute to forming a general idea of ​​risks and ways to reduce them.

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The Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) decided to raise the technical compliance assessment of the UAE among three important recommendations for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, during the 32nd General Meeting of MENAFATF, which was held remotely recently.

The rating of the UAE was raised from “Partially Compliant” to “Compliant” within recommendations (6) and (7) of targeted financial sanctions to combat terrorism, terrorist financing and proliferation.

The assessment of the country's compliance was also raised from "partially compliant" to "largely compliant" within recommendation 25 related to transparency and the real beneficiary of arrangements and legal entities.

"committed"

With this achievement, the UAE becomes “committed” and “largely committed” in 37 of the 40 recommendations made by the Financial Action Task Force “FATF” to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, which puts the UAE among the advanced countries in the field of technical compliance with anti-money laundering and the financing of terrorism worldwide.

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These positive results were achieved with direct follow-up from the Higher Committee for Supervising the National Strategy to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, headed by H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, where the Higher Committee provided the required support to raise the country’s assessment.

The 32nd general meeting of the MENAFATF group ended by unanimously agreeing to raise the assessment of the UAE, following the discussion of the first enhanced follow-up report for the country, which is based on the mutual assessment report issued by the Financial Action Task Force “FATF” on the UAE in April 2020.

commitment

Commenting on the country’s success in this regard, the Director-General of the Executive Office for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, Hamed Al Zaabi, affirmed the UAE’s support for the efforts of “FATF” and “Minafatif”, and its continuous commitment to developing and upgrading its national system to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, in order to implement The best and latest international standards in this regard.

Two new tips

In addition, the Central Bank issued two new guidelines on countering money laundering and combating terrorist financing for licensed financial institutions, focusing on reporting suspicious transactions, legal persons and legal entities.

The new guidelines contribute to forming an overview of risks and ways to reduce them, in addition to the effective performance by licensed financial institutions of their legal obligations related to combating money laundering and combating terrorist financing.

inform

Licensed financial institutions are required to report any behavior that may be suspected to some extent related to money laundering, terrorist financing or criminal offences, by submitting reports on suspicious activities directly to the UAE Financial Information Unit within 35 days of their discovery, using the use of goAML platform.

Risk assessment

Licensed financial institutions that provide services to legal persons and legal entities must assess the risks related to money laundering and terrorist financing, and develop an effective program to combat money laundering and combat the financing of terrorism, which may include companies, institutions, associations, trust funds, or other similar entities.

Strengthening efforts

The Governor of the Central Bank, Khaled Muhammad Balama, said, “The UAE continues its path in confronting money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism and illegal organizations,” adding: “In line with the Central Bank’s tasks in the field of control and supervision in order to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing Law. Terrorism in the UAE, the issuance of these guidelines comes to enhance our efforts in providing licensed financial institutions with the necessary guidance, which will implement anti-crime measures with high efficiency.”

• The state has become “committed” and “largely committed” in 37 out of 40 recommendations made by the FATF.

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