The UAE Central Bank has imposed a Dh20 million ($5.5 million) fine on the foreign branch of a lender operating in the country – one of the biggest penalties imposed for a breach of anti-money laundering rules.
The entity was found to have committed "significant, repeated failures" in the central bank's Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) and Illegal Organisations and Sanctions framework, the regulator said in a statement on Wednesday.
The central bank imposed an additional Dh300,000 fine on the bank branch's head of compliance and money laundering reporting office, due owing to his "failure to fulfil his responsibilities and position functions".
The fine is among the highest issued by UAE regulators on financial entities breaching the country's regulations, especially those related to anti-money laundering rules. In May 2025, an exchange house and two foreign bank branches were fined Dh200 million and Dh18.1 million, respectively.
The banking regulator has also taken action such as revoking financial institutions' licences and suspending their ability to bring in new customers.
The penalties are "based on the results of the findings of examinations conducted by the UAE Central Bank", it added.
The UAE has introduced initiatives to regulate the country’s financial sector and passed strict laws to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In 2024, the country announced a nationwide action plan aimed at boosting its fight against illicit financial activity by introducing the 2024-2027 National Strategy for Anti-Money Laundering, Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation Financing.
The government had amended its laws against money laundering and the financing of terrorism and criminal groups and formed a national committee on such crimes.
A year earlier, the central bank unveiled AML/CFT guidelines for licensed financial institutions including banks, finance companies, exchange houses, insurance companies, agents and brokers. The guidelines focus on the use of digital identification systems by licensed financial institutions to address customers' due diligence obligations.
The central bank, through its supervisory and regulatory mandates, "endeavours to ensure that all banks, its authorised decision makers and its staff abide by the UAE laws, regulations and standards", the regulator said.
In 2021, the UAE established the Executive Office of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing, an agency to deal with money launderers, as well as organisations and people suspected of financing terrorists and organised crime. Those have been established to "safeguard transparency and integrity of the banking sector and the UAE financial system", it added.
In the early weeks of the US-Iran war, the central bank approved a resilience package to reinforce the stability of the banking sector against the backdrop of the conflict.
