UAE Central Bank fines individual Dhs600,000 under anti-money laundering law

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has imposed financial and administrative sanctions on a non-authorised individual related to an exchange house in the UAE. The fine totaled Dhs600,000.

The fine was imposed because the individual had no authorisation to undertake a function that required prior approval from the Central Bank, and was pursuant to Article 14 of the Federal Decree Law No. (20) of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organisations, and article 137 of the Decretal Federal Law No. (14) of 2018 Regarding the Central Bank & Organisation of Financial Institutions and Activities.

The CBUAE also prohibited the individual from undertaking any future functions related to licensed financial institutions in the country.

“As the supervisory authority of exchange houses operating in the UAE, the CBUAE is actively overseeing that all exchange houses, their owners, and staff abide by the UAE laws, regulations and standards adopted by the CBUAE to safeguard the transparency and integrity of the exchange houses’ business,” the central bank said in a note on its website.

Earlier this month, the CBUAE had fined an exchange house operating in the country Dhs504,000, taking into consideration its poor compliance history when imposing the fine.

Read: Exchange house in UAE fined Dhs504,000 by Central Bank

Meanwhile, last month, the central bank fined 11 banks operating in the country a total of Dhs45.75m.

Read: UAE Central Bank imposes fines worth Dhs45.75m on 11 banks