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UAE urges banks to step up fight against terrorism financing, money laundering

Abu Dhabi - The CBUAE introduced the supervisory agenda of the bank's Anti-Money Laundering Department.

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Financial institutions in the UAE were urged to focus on combatting money laundering and financing for terrorism in a meeting attended by compliance officers from all banks.

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The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) held the first Compliance Officers Forum to create a dialogue between the CBUAE and Chief Compliance Officers of all banks to discuss expectations from compliance function and banks’ risk management.

The forum, chaired by Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi, Governor of the UAE Central Bank, was attended by over 100 Chief Compliance Officers and other senior compliance professionals from the banking industry in the presence of Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of UAE Banks Federation (UBF).

Alahmadi opened the forum, emphasising the importance of compliance functions and its role in ensuring sound and comprehensive management of all risks faced by banks in the UAE. The forum addressed several matters, mainly highlighting that banks need to assess the scope and skills of their compliance function and properly embed the compliance risk within the overall risk appetite framework.

During the forum, the CBUAE introduced the supervisory agenda of the bank's Anti-Money Laundering Department with a particular focus on complying with the actions recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The participants were updated on the progress of the national initiative for digitalising the "Know-your-customer" process across the banking sector to ensure uniform regulatory standards, a high level of compliance, and increased efficiency.

The UBF’s Compliance Committee reiterated their commitment to support the CBUAE and other UAE authorities to strengthen the anti-money laundering framework.

Alahmadi said: "The UAE is strongly committed to applying FATF standards to ensure that its financial system is safe and sound. We urge financial institutions to retain their focus on combatting money laundering and financing of terrorism. We see Chief Compliance Officers as our partners in this journey. We expect that these regular forums organised by the Central Bank will provide a solid platform for regulatory dialogue with the industry."

The event supports achieving the UAE’s agenda to strengthen the efforts on anti-money laundering and combatting financing of terrorism.

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