Its new guidelines on transaction monitoring come into effect

The Central Bank raises its gold balance to 11.87 billion dirhams

The Central Bank returned to the formation of gold stocks at the beginning of 2015. Archive

The Central Bank of the Emirates raised its gold balance at the end of last July to 11 billion and 878 million dirhams, an increase of 374 million dirhams over the previous June, which amounted to 11 billion and 504 million dirhams, according to data issued by the bank yesterday.

Gold is among the various assets owned by the bank, including liquid funds, certificates of deposit, and held-to-maturity securities.

The Central Bank of the Emirates returned to the formation of stocks of the yellow metal at the beginning of the year 2015.

The UAE’s reserves of the yellow metal are equivalent to 3.1% of the total international reserves, according to the data of the World Gold Council, while gold is one of the best and most important safe investment havens, because of its tangible value, despite all the fluctuations in the markets, it is a hedge against inflation.

New instructions

In addition, the UAE Central Bank issued new guidelines on monitoring transactions and examining penalties for licensed financial institutions, which aim to enhance the understanding and effective implementation of the legal obligations imposed on them, to counter money laundering and combat the financing of terrorism.

These guidelines came into effect from yesterday, September 13, 2021, requiring authorized financial institutions to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the Central Bank within a month of the said date.

internal procedures

Licensed financial institutions must develop internal policies, controls and procedures commensurate with the nature and size of their business, as approved by their senior management.

It must also set indicators to control suspicious transactions and activities in order to submit reports on each of them, or submit other types of reports to the UAE Financial Information Unit.

In addition, it must regularly check its databases and transactions for names on lists issued by the United Nations Security Council and its relevant committees (the Security Council Consolidated List), or issued by the UAE Cabinet (the domestic terrorism list). ), before conducting any transaction, or entering into a commercial relationship with any dealer, whether individuals or companies.

Transaction Monitoring

As stipulated in the new guidelines, licensed financial institutions must establish effective programs for monitoring transactions and examining penalties, based on a well-thought-out and dedicated framework for investigating risks, and conducting training courses and awareness programs for their employees about them, under the supervision of the Board of Directors.

It must also work to ensure the continuous development of systems to monitor transactions, and examine sanctions based on the risks that threaten them.

These systems, including monitoring and inspection models, must be independently tested, validated and audited.

Compliance Reference

Central Bank Governor Khaled Muhammad Balama said: "While we at the Central Bank continue to strengthen measures to combat money laundering and combat the financing of terrorism to protect the financial system of the UAE, we expect all licensed financial institutions to fulfill their duties."

He stressed that the new guidelines constitute a reference for licensed financial institutions to ensure their compliance with the requirements of combating money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

The UAE's reserves of the yellow metal are equivalent to 3.1% of the total international reserves.

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