ABU DHABI — The Central Bank of UAE on Monday asked all financial institutions in the country to immediately report any suspicious money transactions or cases they come across to its Anti-money Laundering and Suspicious Cases Unit (AMLSCU).
After inaugurating a workshop for insurance companies and brokers on Monday, ALMSCU executive director Abdulrahim Mohammed Al Awadi said it was the responsibility of all entities to report such transactions and cases to help the country keep its financial system sound.
“The Anti-money Laundering Law (AML) has obligated the reporting requirements in relation to any suspicious transactions to banks, other financial, commercial and economic entities that include insurance companies and brokers,” Awadi said.
About the progress in the implementation of the AML/CFT regulations in the country, he said great achievements have been made with the establishment of AMLSCU at the central bank.
According to him there has an increase of over 131 per cent in the suspicious transaction reporting (STR) from 2008 to last year. “Total statistics show there were 1,170 STRs in 2008; 1,750 in 2009 and 2,711 last year. That shows the effectiveness of our aims and implementation of the regime.”
Al Awadi said it was the responsibility of all in partnership with the regulators in ensuring the UAE financial system to stay clean and protected from being abused by criminals, money launderers, and terrorist financing. “The suspicious transactions reports submitted by all the reporting entities are therefore of utmost importance in our endeavours to combat money laundering and financing terrorism),” he said.
He said the country’s financial system was safe, sound and secure, and all entities are required to actively participate in the regulators’ efforts to maintain the high standards in complying with the various laws, regulations and procedures to further strengthen the integrity of the system. “The Federal and Local Governments, Central Bank and the National Anti-Money Laundering Committee (NAMLC) over the years have codified and implemented various laws, regulations and procedures in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing,” he said.
He said NAMLC has effectively carried out its mandate to propose Anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism regulations and procedures, facilitating exchange of information and coordination among various authorities and financial institutions represented in the committee as well as representing the UAE in regional and international forums.