Three exchange houses fined over AED 4 million for compliance failures
The penalties follow an investigation that revealed serious lapses in their procedures.
The Central Bank says it remains committed to enforcing UAE laws and ensuring that all financial institutions operate with transparency and integrity.
The #CentralBankUAE imposed varying financial sanctions amounting to AED 4,100,000 on three exchange houses, pursuant to Article (14) of the Federal Decree Law No. (20) of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Illegal Organisations and its…
— Central Bank of the UAE (@centralbankuae) July 7, 2025
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Arabian Post
6 hours ago
- Arabian Post
India Must Ignore Trump's Trade Tariff Trap
By Nantoo Banerjee US President Donald Trump is becoming increasingly unpredictable, if not crazy, with his freakish combination of styles to deal with countries and issues – from trade to diplomacy. The 25 percent import tariff on India since last Friday may not considerably hurt India's export trade with the US, but it threatens to develop a crack, or maybe even distrust, in the well-developed India-US diplomatic relations over the past several years. And, that should be a bigger concern before the democratic institutions in both India and the US. Trump is most unlikely to remain as the effective US president after the November 2028 election though he is selling 'Trump 2028' caps suggesting there may be loopholes to the president's two-term limit. He seems to be hell-bent on creating enough confusion around the so-called US allies for the next president to repair them easily. India is not a trade surplus country. Its global merchandise trade deficit has been growing year after year. In 2024-25, the country's trade deficit jumped to $282.83 billion from $241 billion in the previous fiscal year. The Indian government does not seem to be quite concerned. The US too is a big trade deficit country. Last year, the US recorded a historic $1.2-trillion goods trade deficit. Ironically, behind the ballooning trade gap of both the US and India is China. India's goods trade surplus with the US may have doubled over the last decade, rising from $20 billion in 2015 to $40 billion in 2025, but its trade deficit with China has more than doubled during this period, reaching a record high of $99.2 billion in 2024-25. According to the UN COMTRADE database on international trade, China had slashed down imports from India to merely $18 billion, last year. India neither protested nor took action to drastically cut imports from China. If China's anti-India import policy does not hurt the sentiments of the import-insensitive Indian government, the dumping of a mere 25 percent import tariff on India by President Trump on certain select items such as textiles, telecom, gems and jewellery, oil and gas, and food and agriculture with effect from this month should not unduly concern India. Unfortunately, the Indian government and the local media have always been more focussed and sensitive on US policies than Chinese practices. While the US trade policy has always been linked with its foreign policy, India's trade policy seems to totally ignore China's highly aggressive foreign policy that seeks to surround India with its growing military presence all around the country. The so-called Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) continues to import more and more from China. India imports a very large range of low-cost products from China, including electronics, fashion apparel, toys, and industrial machinery despite concerns over their potential impact on India's domestic industries and employment. Massive imports from China are primarily responsible for growing unemployment in India. India has been a major importer of Chinese smartphones, laptops, televisions, and other low-cost electronic devices such as clothing and textiles including activewear, casual wear, and children's fashion, to meet the country's growing local demand. India's significant portion of toy imports come from China. The current size of India's toy market is worth over $1.2 billion. Chinese manufacturers offer a wide variety of affordable and innovative toys. India also imports a wide range of other low-cost products from China, including household goods, kitchenware, baby carriages, and consumer products. The influx of cheap Chinese imports is challenging India's domestic manufacturers, potentially impacting their competitiveness and production. Leave alone the domestic job loss. Trump's trade tantrums apart, India could import a lot more from the US, instead of China, especially in areas where the US has a competitive advantage. A shift in India's trade approach could be driven by factors such as diversification of supply chains, reducing dependence on China, and potentially leveraging the US's technological and manufacturing prowess. The country's reliance on China, particularly in areas like electronics and pharmaceuticals, creates strategic vulnerabilities. India should import more from the US where it has an intrinsic strength that could help India reduce its dependence on China and build more resilient supply chains. The US continues to be a major global exporter of goods across various sectors, including machinery, electronics, and pharmaceuticals. In fact, India could utilise the services of many top US companies which are present in India and doing very good business in the country as well as exporting their wares to influence US trade and business decisions. A number of prominent US multinational companies have significant manufacturing operations in India. They include Ford (exporting engines from its Chennai plant, and making software development), General Electric (GE), Honeywell, Apple, Cisco, Cognizant and Cummins to mention a few. These US giants have chosen India for its skilled workforce and growing market. GE has a long-standing relationship with India. It manufactures various products and technologies across different sectors. Honeywell has a strong manufacturing footprint in India, focusing on aerospace, building technologies, and performance materials. Cummins, a global power technology leader, manufactures engines and related components in India. Apple Inc. has so far ignored the Trump threat to expand India operations and export back to the US. The 3M, a diversified science company, has invested in manufacturing in India to serve both the domestic and export markets. The Boeing company has been expanding its manufacturing activities, leveraging the country's growing aerospace industry. Boeing is using India's capability to outsource products and services with a network of some 300 Indian suppliers. The business is worth $1.25 billion annually. Boeing's engineering and technology centre in Bengaluru is one of its largest outside the US. Apple has also ramped up its manufacturing in India, partnering with such global leaders such as Wistron and Foxconn to produce iPhones. The US e-commerce giant Amazon has invested big in India, creating its own infrastructure and supply chain to support the growing online marketplace. Cisco, a global US leader in networking and cybersecurity, has a strong presence in the country, which covers manufacturing and research and development among others. Whimsical Trump's bid to strongly disturb the matured India-US economic and diplomatic relations may have something to do with his age. President Trump will reach 80 in next June. This may somewhat explain his growing capricious nature in dealing with the complex international issues and markedly strange utterances and suggestions slamming India and Russia as 'dead economies' after tariff stand-off and the US drilling oil in Pakistan which is 85 percent import dependent to meet its energy needs. Having road-tested a hardball tactic in his first term (January 20, 2017 to January 20, 2021), President Trump seems to have taken it to new levels. Earlier this year, a global survey found that India was the most upbeat of any nation about what a second Donald Trump presidency would mean for the country. The survey panel must be having second thoughts now. For India, it must strongly avoid falling into a Trump trap and continue to play cool. (IPA Service)
Sharjah 24
11 hours ago
- Sharjah 24
CBUAE issues 2024 Financial Stability Report
The report affirmed the robustness of the UAE banking sector, supported by strong capital and liquidity buffers, alongside improved asset quality and continued growth. Financial stability risks in the country remained broadly contained and unchanged, due to robust economic fundamentals, prudent policies, and effective risk management. The report reviews domestic and global macroeconomic trends, financial market conditions, the performance of various sectors, and regulatory developments, with a focus on resilience aspects and emerging risks. It also underscores the CBUAE's commitment to fostering proactive risk monitoring, innovation, and transparency, supporting financial system resilience, and collaborating with local and international partners to enhance the UAE's position as a leading global financial hub. The strong performance of the financial system contributed to enhancing the nation's economic resilience. The UAE's real GDP grew by 4 percent in 2024, driven by growth momentum in the non-oil sector, a key driver for economic diversification. The overall GDP growth outlook is also expected to remain positive for the coming years, reaching 4.4 percent in 2025 and rising to 5.4 percent in 2026. In 2024, the UAE's financial system experienced robust and stable conditions. A significant step in enhancing coordination among key stakeholders was the operationalisation of the UAE Financial Stability Council, chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Presidential Court, Chairman of the Central Bank and Chairman of the Financial Stability Council. This move represented a crucial stride towards bolstering coordination among stakeholders, activating systemic risk oversight, facilitating the assessment of emerging risks, and streamlining timely policy responses to horizontal risks. 2024 also saw the CBUAE reinforce its regulatory and supervisory frameworks through the implementation of new macroprudential tools, strengthening cybersecurity requirements, advancing in sustainable finance, and expanding the scope of climate change risk assessment, in line with international best practices. The comprehensive stress tests conducted by the CBUAE in 2024 confirmed the ability of the UAE's banks to absorb macroeconomic shocks, continue providing credit facilities even under hypothetical adverse scenarios, and maintain high levels of capital and liquidity exceeding minimum requirements, highlighting the banking sector's resilience in addressing global risks. The UAE's non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) sector achieved significant positive results at various levels. The insurance sector remained resilient, with adequate solvency positions and substantial growth of 21.4 percent, bringing total gross written premiums to AED64.8 billion, thereby reinforcing policyholders' rights. Overall, finance companies maintained adequate capitalisation with further improvements in liquidity levels, while money exchange businesses continued to demonstrate their resilience and operational stability. 2024 also witnessed an acceleration in digital transformation, reflected in increased adoption rates of FinTech and digital payments, the expansion of banking services, and the integration of artificial intelligence and data analytics. The CBUAE continued to develop the national payment and settlement infrastructure through the launch of the Domestic Card Scheme "Jaywan", the widespread adoption of the 'Aani' Instant Payment Platform, and the progress made in the central bank digital currency (CBDC) "Digital Dirham", all of which enhanced the financial system's efficiency and resilience. The report anticipates that the outlook for the UAE's financial system will remain positive, supported by robust economic fundamentals, prudent economic management, and the CBUAE's efforts to support financial system resilience, enhance proactive risk monitoring, innovation, and transparency. Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, said, "The UAE maintained strong economic and financial conditions in 2024, despite growing economic challenges and increasing global risks, supported by national economic growth and the banking system's robustness and resilience. "At CBUAE, we are committed to steadily progressing towards achieving the vision of our wise leadership, the nation's development plans, and our strategic objectives by developing the financial system's regulatory and supervisory framework to ensure sustainable resilience, enhance financial and economic stability, and drive growth momentum and prosperity in the UAE."
Middle East Eye
12 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Trump Administration says it will withhold disaster funding to states that boycott Israel
US states and territories that boycott Israeli companies or companies operating in Israel will be denied federal funds for natural disaster preparation, Reuters reported on Monday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stated in a notice of funding on Friday that it was making nearly $1 billion available to states to protect themselves from natural disasters. The funding announced on Friday applies to 15 different grant programmes that protect states from natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and fires as well as terrorist attacks and cyber disruptions. FEMA has also announced an additional $2.2 bn in funding for disaster preparation since 25 July. However, Reuters said that at least $1.9 billion of this funding was conditional on states following Department of Homeland conditions laid out in April that they will not cut 'commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or companies doing business in or with Israel' to qualify, according to 11 agency grant notices it reviewed. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters However, the ruling is seen to be largely symbolic. More than 30 US states already have laws that require 'public entities to certify they do not and will not boycott Israel', according to an essay titled 'Anti-BDS laws and the politics of political boycotts' in the University of Pennsylvania's Journal of Law and Social Change. However, in recent months, calls for boycotts of Israeli and international companies who are doing business with Israel have increased. Most recently, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese's called for action after she published a scathing new report in which she names over 60 companies, including major technology firms like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, alleging their involvement in what she calls "the transformation of Israel's economy of occupation to an economy of genocide". Albanese was sanctioned by the US after she published the report. Political blackmail It is the latest escalation in the Trump administration making war on institutions, departments, or states that do not fall in line with its goals and priorities such as its hardline approach to immigration or issues such as climate change. For example, FEMA's statement on Friday laid out that recipients will no longer be able to spend the funds 'to house illegal immigrants at luxury hotels, fund climate change pet projects or empower radical organizations with unseemly ties that don't serve the interest of the American people'. The statement also said that recipients are required to spend 10 percent minimum on 'supporting border crisis response and enforcement'.
