The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has penalized six exchange houses for flouting rules to combat money laundering and illicit financial flows.
The sanctions imposed last month followed the exchange houses’ failures to comply with AML & Sanctions Compliance Frameworks by end-2019, which was the deadline, the central bank said in a statement on Monday. It did not name the offenders.
The UAE has in recent months beefed up regulations targeted at banks and financial institutions to combat and prevent money laundering. Earlier this year, the government set up an Executive Office for Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing.
In August, the Dubai Misdemeanor Court convicted eight individuals and three companies for cyber fraud and laundering of stolen funds amounting to approximately 14 million dirhams.