UAE Central Bank imposes financial sanctions on 6 banks

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) on Thursday said it imposed financial sanctions on six banks operating in the UAE for failures to achieve appropriate levels of compliance regarding required due diligence and reporting procedures and standards.

The banks have been penalised in line with implementing certain provisions of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Multilateral Administrative Agreement for Automatic Exchange of Information and Common Reporting Standard (CRS).The CRS is a global methodology for the automatic exchange of financial accounts and tax-related information with other financial regulatory organisations across the world through secure channels.

The Central Bank said the financial sanctions take into account the banks’ failures to achieve appropriate levels of compliance regarding required due diligence and reporting procedures and standards. All banks operating in the UAE have been allowed ample time by the regulator to implement the CRS.

On Wednesday, the Central Bank imposed financial sanctions on an exchange house due to a weak compliance framework regarding the required due diligence policies and procedures to prevent money laundering and financing of terrorism. The Central Bank imposed a fine of Dh5.2 million on the exchange house.