UAE bank fined Dhs19.5 million for breaching Anti-Money Laundering law

The UAE Central Bank imposed administrative and financial penalties on a bank in the UAE for breaching the Anti-Money Laundering law.

The decision was taken in accordance with the provisions of Article 14 of the Decree No.20 of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering, combating the financing of terrorism and financing illegal organisations, and in accordance with the relevant resolutions issued by the Cabinet and the Central Bank Board of Directors.

The bank was fined Dhs19.5 million for not adhering to the Anti-Money Laundering law.

The Central Bank imposed supervisory procedures on the bank, and obligated it to assign a councilor to take urgent necessary action to address and correct shortcomings in the approved framework to fight money laundering and the penalties imposed by the bank on the violators.

The Central Bank said it will continue to coordinate with the bank to complete the procedures and correct the mentioned shortcomings.

On November 4, 2021, the Central Bank also imposed a financial fine of Dhs19.5 million on the bank for failing to achieve appropriate levels of follow-up procedures against money laundering.

It is worth mentioning that all banks operating in the UAE are obliged to achieve appropriate levels of follow-up to cope with Anti-Money Laundering law.

The Central Bank gave these banks enough time to address the shortcomings in this connection.

If failed to address the shortcomings, the Central Bank said it would impose financial sanctions and that it would continue to work with all licensed financial institutions to achieve high levels of follow-up measures against money laundering and financing terrorism.

It added that it would continue to impose further administrative and financial sanctions by law, in case of non-compliance.