During its last meeting, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) praised the progress made by the UAE and its successes in combating money laundering and terrorist financing during the past year.
This was confirmed by the Director General of the Executive Office for Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in the UAE, Hamed Al Zaabi, in statements to the Emirates News Agency “WAM”, stressing that the UAE has achieved a number of successes in efforts at combating money laundering and terrorist financing during the past year.
The UAE issued a new law to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in 2018.
He explained that the Executive Office for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism cooperates closely with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in implementing the UAE Action Plan, and “we will remain committed to ensuring that all items included in the plan are met.”
According to the data of the Executive Office for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, which was established in 2021, the total value of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism operations and procedures during the year 2021 amounted to an estimated $1.048 billion (AED 3.848 billion).
Read: UAE Central Bank issues new anti-money laundering guidelines
In January and February, the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) received nearly 7,000 suspicious transaction and activity reports from stakeholders across various financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions. A comparison of data between 2021 and 2022 shows that the rate of reporting suspicious transactions and activities increased by 81 percent.
The percentage of non-financial businesses and professions identifying suspicious transaction and activity reports (especially money exchange shops, cash service providers, dealers in precious metals and stones, and virtual asset service providers) increased by about 91 percent.
The UAE regulators imposed 161 fines on 76 entities during the first quarter of this year, with fines exceeding AED 115 million, compared to fines worth AED 76 million in 2022, according to Al Zaabi, who explained that in terms of confiscation, the value of assets confiscated during the period between November 2022 and February 2023 exceeded AED 925 million.
Al Zaabi explained that the Executive Office has a long-term plan that will develop a sustainable and robust system to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, “where we will continue to strengthen our capabilities in the coming years, as our commitment to combating financial crimes stems from our belief that our efforts contribute to promoting economic growth, increasing international trade and investment, and protecting the integrity of the global financial system.”
The Executive Office has set six strategic objectives valid until 2026 and supports the establishment of an effective and coherent system to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, through sound policies and proper risk management, as this plan will also achieve excellence and adopt the highest standards at the level of the Executive Office, according to Al Zaabi.
He stated that the UAE’s achievements in the file of combating money laundering and terrorist financing included its ranking fifth in the world at the level of confiscation and arrests, which was represented by a percentage of the total value of financial crimes expected for the country, in addition to the close cooperation of UAE law enforcement authorities with Europol and Interpol, as it contributed to a number of important investigations and arrests at the international level, including the case of Kidan Zakaria Habbat Mariam, one of the most wanted smugglers on the Europol and Interpol list, being Head of the largest drug trafficking network.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Economy, the UAE economy witnessed a growth of 7.6 percent over the past year, and the World Bank expects growth of 4.1 percent this year, and “Therefore, there are many social and economic advantages to protect the UAE economy and enhance the capabilities of companies to do business with confidence and safety,” according to Al Zaabi.
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