UAE regulator warns of 'regulatory action' against Pakistani bank reportedly found in AML violations

• The Central Bank of UAE (CBAUE) expects high standards of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance from all banks, including branches of foreign banks operating in the UAE.
• We are in close contact with the home regulator of the Pakistani bank, the State Bank of Pakistan, says UAE central bank.

The Central Bank of United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Wednesday, that it is in close contact with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and will take ‘appropriate regulatory actions’ against a Pakistani bank which has reportedly been founding violating the money laundering law.

“Central Bank of UAE (CBAUE) expects high standards of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance from all banks, including branches of foreign banks operating in the UAE,” said the Central Bank of the UAE, in a statement on a foreign bank for being non-compliant with AML requirements.

“We are in close contact with the home regulator of the Pakistani bank, the State Bank of Pakistan, and will take appropriate regulatory action once we have verified the findings reported in the media to confirm if there was any violation to UAE’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combat of Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and procedures,” the statement reads.

“CBUAE confirms that it has zero tolerance for non-compliance with AML legal requirements,” the statement added.

The statement from the UAE’s central bank comes amid reports that Habib Bank Limited (HBL)  Middle East operations had “significant irregularities” in dealings with politically exposed clients and screening some transactions during 2011 to 2017.

As per Bloomberg, this identified by the State Bank of Pakistan during an inspection. The findings are contained in a SBP report, finalized in early 2019, on Habib Bank Ltd’s operations in the United Arab Emirates.