The UAE Central Bank and the Central Bank of Egypt on Sunday said branches of Banque Misr in the Emirates were "conducting all their business as usual", after the US raised money-laundering concerns.
The US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed a rule that would revoke the Banque Misr UAE’s "correspondent banking access to US financial institutions". The UAE Central Bank said it would conduct a "special and urgent examination" into the activities of Banque Misr branches.
Egypt's Banque Misr has five branches in the UAE, according to its website.
The investigation into the Egyptian lender was to include a "forensic/in-depth lookback covering the period referred to in the statement issued by the US authorities, with a focus on banking transactions of the companies mentioned in the statement”, the Central Bank said in a statement on Saturday.
On Sunday, the central banks of the UAE and Egypt issued a joint statement setting out their co-operation over the matter.
"As part of the follow-up on the proposal issued by the US Department of the Treasury regarding a regulatory rule providing for the imposition of a special measure relating to the branches of Banque Misr in the United Arab Emirates, the Central Bank of the UAE and the Central Bank of Egypt affirm the full and continuous co-operation and co-ordination between them with regard to the branches of Banque Misr in the UAE conducting all their business as usual," the central banks said.
"The branches of Banque Misr in the UAE will take all necessary actions and measures within the period specified for that purpose."
