UAE imposes Dh3.5-million fine against exchange house
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is slapping an exchange house with a penalty of Dh3.5 million, which was advertised internationally by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) earlier this week.
The zero-sum loss of wealth inflicted on the exchange house was imposed in consideration to their Article (14) financial decree on anti-money laundering and counter the finances of terrorism and illegal organization discipline law of 2018.
The fine has been determined after an internal probe found operatives with the exchange house were not adhering to CFT policies and procedures.
It is the authority’s goal that all banks within its jurisdiction ensure the employees working under them are complying with law, regulations and standards issued by the CBUAE and that the integrity of the system is not compromised.
Earlier in the year, on May 29, an exchange house had already been berated by the financial authority for inflicting 100million AED penalty for “significant failures” disclosed in the continuous scrutiny of internal CBUAE audits.
On the day prior, the authority ruthlessly punished a couple of foreign bank branches operating within the UAE, propelling the total violations and fines to over 18 million AED for no stated reason.
The authority located severe breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) practices and counter-terrorism financing principals set forth by the exchange house which lead to a breach of Dh200 million fine in the last month alone. A branch manager was also fined Dh500,000 and barred for life in any role at a licensed financial institution in the country.
On the 25th of March, five banks and two insurance companies operating in the UAE received a fine for not complying with tax obligations. They received a financial reprimand from the Central Bank alongside the other impeachment of Dh2,621,000. This was because the banks and the insurance companies did not report procedures aligned with the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) rules and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) guidelines.
The UAE made a federal decree in August of 2024, which effectively revised certain terms in their policy on Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism laws to establish committees with exclusive monitoring powers. The newly introduced clause seeks to enhance the legal and legislative framework within the country to meet various global benchmarks.
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