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Top financial authorities in the UAE brought together public and private firms to help firm up the country’s anti-money-laundering policies
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They came together over two sessions to mull a sophisticated international financial crime compliance regime
Top financial authorities in the United Arab Emirates came together recently to unite key supervisory and regulatory bodies with financial institutions to help firm up the country’s anti-money-laundering policies, said local reports on Tuesday.
The top government officials involved included UAE Minister of State Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, with Central Bank of the UAE Governo rKhaled Mohamed Balama, Dubai Financial Services Authority CEO Bryan Stirewalt, and the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority Emmanuel Givanakis.
They reportedly came together over two sessions to mull a sophisticated international financial crime compliance regime.
The two dedicated sessions – one focusing on offshore financial institutions, the other onshore financial institutions – discussed the UAE’s AML/CFT framework and practical actions to improve public-private sector collaboration in this space.
Led by the UAE government authorities, more than 700 private sector constituents gathered to share valuable insights and obtain the latest information on the UAE’s enhanced AML/CFT compliance regime, including key AML/CFT risk areas, regulatory and enforcement developments and the importance of enhanced engagement between the public and private sectors to prevent financial crime.
Chief executives and senior risk and compliance officials from hundreds of the UAE’s leading financial institutions attended the sessions alongside government participants from the Central Bank of the UAE, the Executive Office for AML/CFT, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Securities and Commodities Authority, DFSA, AGDM, and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The objective of the UAE’s engagement with onshore and offshore financial institutions is on the monitoring, reporting and analysis of suspicious activity through the Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) regime, the corporate registries, and other information-sharing channels.
The private-sector outreach sessions were organized and held in close collaboration with the UAE’s Executive Office for AML/CFT. The UAE Cabinet, chaired by Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, established the Executive Office for AML/CFT to oversee the implementation of the UAE’s National AML/CFT Strategy and National Action Plan (NAP), the program of reforms designed to strengthen the UAE’s anti-financial crime system.
