The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has imposed financial penalties totalling Dh18.1 million on two foreign bank branches operating within the country for breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.
The first branch was fined Dh10.6 million, while the second received a penalty of Dh7.5 million. These sanctions were issued under Article 14 of Federal Decree Law No. 20 of 2018, which addresses AML and the combating of terrorism financing and illegal organisations.
The CBUAE’s examinations revealed that both branches failed to comply with the UAE’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) framework and related regulations. The specific names of the sanctioned banks have not been disclosed.
This enforcement action follows a recent penalty where the CBUAE fined an exchange house Dh200 million for significant AML violations. In that case, the branch manager was also fined Dh500,000 and prohibited from working in any licensed financial institution within the UAE.
