UAE: Govt. Reinforces Commitment to Combat Money-Laundering

Keeping in line with the obligations of the Financial Action Task Force (FAFT), the UAE’s Ministry of Economy has reassured and reaffirmed its strong grip on combating money laundering and the financing of illegal and terrorist organizations.

Given UAE’s plethoric resources of oil, gas, gold, and diamonds, it becomes incumbent on the country to put a rigid system of scrutiny on anti-money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing activities.

In an effort to eliminate such high-profile risks, the UAE government has introduced several compliances this year, including:

The establishment of a new executive office that will undertake all efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Launching inspection campaigns to scrutinize designated non-financial businesses and professionals (DNFBPs) such as dealers of precious stones and gems, auditors, brokerages, corporate services providers, and real estate companies.
Encouraging select businesses to register with Financial Intelligence Unit and comply with CTF and AMF laws.
Introducing a law that requires for over 500,000 companies in the country to reveal information about their Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) or risk getting penalized.
This reinforcement on regulations also follows strict enforcement. The mulct for not satisfying the AML and CFT requirements range from AED 50,000 to a whopping AED 5 million. You could also run into the risk of losing your license altogether if you do not comply with the regulations.
In addition to that, the ministry has also tied up with 17 registrars of companies and has successfully created a team consisting of 97 inspectors. The objective of this team would be to ensure the implementation of the guidelines across DNFBPs.
Mohamed Al Janahi, head of AML Supervision at the Ministry of Economy, in a statement, said that they rely on the partnership and cooperation of the DNFBPs to achieve high levels of oversight and compliance.

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