Money declaration rules to harden

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates will require those leaving the country to declare large amounts of money from September as part of an effort to improve monitoring of suspicious cash flows, officials said on Sunday.

Dubai, a Gulf trade and finance hub, has been fighting a reputation as a haven for money laundering since the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001 drew attention to the relative ease of moving money through the city.

"The UAE.has put in place a strong legal, regulatory and institutional framework to counter money laundering and combat terrorist financing and thereby protect its institutions from any reputation risk," Central Bank Governor Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi told a conference on the new measure.

The current regulation only applies to arriving passengers.

The central bank said it is also bringing the minimum declaration amount in line with international standards, raising the requirement to declare cash and bearer instruments such as cheques to 100,000 dirhams ($27,230), or the equivalent in foreign currencies, from 40,000 dirhams.

COPYRIGHT REUTERS, 2011