UAE anti-money laundering committee receives 8k questionnaires
The submission of more than 8,000 questionnaires reflects the private sector's active engagement with risks related to money laundering and terrorist financing says a leading UAE figurehead.
Secretary-General and Vice Chairman of the UAE National Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organisations Committee (NAMLCFTC) Hamid AlZaabi, said that private sector and financial institutions are considered key partners in delivering the UAE's AML/CFT programme and completing the National Risk Assessment (NRA) process.
AlZaabi noted that the reports submitted by financial and non-financial institutions, as well as the private sector, witnessed a 26 per cent increase in the year 2024, reflecting the strengthening of collective understanding of these risks.
He stated that the UAE's NRA led to significant legal amendments, including the 2024 update to the UAE's Anti-Money Laundering Law, to address evolving financial crime trends.
AlZaabi also noted that virtual assets remain a high-risk category globally and that the UAE continues to enhance its financial sector's performance through deep and comprehensive risk understanding. 'This ongoing effort strengthens the country's ability to adapt to future financial challenges.'
The previous NRA played a key role in advancing progress in 2024 in this regard, culminating in the launch of the National Strategy for Anti-Money Laundering, Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation Financing for 2024-27. The strategy outlines 11 primary objectives, 200 sub-goals, and over 1,000 initiatives aimed at achieving its targets by 2027, reinforcing the UAE's global leadership in this field, he added.
AlZaabi reaffirmed the UAE's commitment to updating national regulations and policies to align with international best practices, ensuring readiness for the International Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mutual evaluation, which will start at the end of the year.
He further highlighted that these efforts have led to continuous policy and legislative updates, helping maintain the stability of both the national and global financial systems. The UAE, he stressed, remains proactive in addressing emerging challenges and strengthening its position as a global leader in combating financial and economic crimes.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ARN News Center
12 hours ago
- ARN News Center
Bangladesh to hold election in first half of April 2026
Bangladesh will hold a national election in the first half of April 2026, its de facto premier said on Friday, after a period of interim unelected government since student-led unrest in 2024 toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The administration led by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been running the South Asian nation of 173 million people since August, when Hasina fled to India in the face of deadly street protests against her government. Yunus' administration, however, has also faced serious discontent in recent weeks, with protests breaking out last month over wage demands and orders relating to the dismissal of public servants for misconduct without lengthy procedures. "After reviewing the ongoing reform activities...I am announcing to the people today that the next national election will be held on any day in the first half of April 2026," Yunus said in an address to the nation on Friday. The election commission would provide a detailed roadmap for the vote at an appropriate time, said Yunus, who is not aligned with any party and has said he is not interested in running. Opposition groups, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had been demanding early elections, warning of instability and "strong resentment within the people" if a vote were not held by December. The BNP's leader and former prime minister, Khaleda Zia, was acquitted in January in a 2008 corruption case, paving the way for her to run in the next election. Hasina's Awami League party was effectively barred from contesting the polls when the elections commission suspended its registration last month. Yunus' government had earlier banned all Awami League activities under the Anti-Terrorism Act after days of protests, citing national security threats. Hasina, credited with turning around the economy but accused of human rights violations and the suppression of dissent, won a fourth straight term in 2024, but the vote was boycotted by the main opposition, whose top leaders were in jail or in exile.
Dubai Eye
14 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
Bangladesh to hold election in first half of April 2026
Bangladesh will hold a national election in the first half of April 2026, its de facto premier said on Friday, after a period of interim unelected government since student-led unrest in 2024 toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The administration led by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been running the South Asian nation of 173 million people since August, when Hasina fled to India in the face of deadly street protests against her government. Yunus' administration, however, has also faced serious discontent in recent weeks, with protests breaking out last month over wage demands and orders relating to the dismissal of public servants for misconduct without lengthy procedures. "After reviewing the ongoing reform activities...I am announcing to the people today that the next national election will be held on any day in the first half of April 2026," Yunus said in an address to the nation on Friday. The election commission would provide a detailed roadmap for the vote at an appropriate time, said Yunus, who is not aligned with any party and has said he is not interested in running. Opposition groups, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had been demanding early elections, warning of instability and "strong resentment within the people" if a vote were not held by December. The BNP's leader and former prime minister, Khaleda Zia, was acquitted in January in a 2008 corruption case, paving the way for her to run in the next election. Hasina's Awami League party was effectively barred from contesting the polls when the elections commission suspended its registration last month. Yunus' government had earlier banned all Awami League activities under the Anti-Terrorism Act after days of protests, citing national security threats. Hasina, credited with turning around the economy but accused of human rights violations and the suppression of dissent, won a fourth straight term in 2024, but the vote was boycotted by the main opposition, whose top leaders were in jail or in exile.
Gulf Today
2 days ago
- Gulf Today
Irish university to cut links with Israel over Gaza war
Ireland's prestigious Trinity College Dublin said on Wednesday that it would cut all links with Israel in protest at "ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law." The university's board informed students by email on Wednesday that it had accepted the recommendations of a taskforce to sever "institutional links with the State of Israel, Israeli universities and companies headquartered in Israel." The recommendations would be "enacted for the duration of the ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law", said the email sent by the board's chairman Paul Farrell, and seen by AFP. The taskforce was set up after part of the university's campus in central Dublin was blockaded by students for five days last year in protest at Israel's actions in Gaza. Among the taskforce's recommendations approved by the board were pledges to divest "from all companies headquartered in Israel" and to "enter into no future supply contracts with Israeli firms" and "no new commercial relationships with Israeli entities." The university also said that it would "enter into no further mobility agreements with Israeli universities." Trinity has two current Erasmus+ exchange agreements with Israeli universities: Bar Ilan University, an agreement that ends in July 2026, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which ends in July 2025, the university told AFP in an email. The board also said that the university "should not submit for approval or agree to participate in any new institutional research agreements involving Israeli participation." It "should seek to align itself with like-minded universities and bodies in an effort to influence EU policy concerning Israel's participation in such collaborations," it added. Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel's response to the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas militants that sparked the war in Gaza. Polls since the start of the war have shown overwhelming pro-Palestinian sympathy in Ireland. In May 2024, Dublin joined several other European countries in recognising Palestine as a "sovereign and independent state." It then joined South Africa in bringing a case before the International Court of Justice in the Hague accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza -- charges angrily denied by Israeli leaders. In December, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of the country's embassy in Dublin, blaming Ireland's "extreme anti-Israel policies". Agence France-Presse
