In recent years, the UAE has tightened regulations to combat money laundering and effectively enforced policies against financial crime.

And this is showing results.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which included the UAE on a list of jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring, known as its”grey” list in 2022, plans to conduct an on-site visit to verify that these changes are sustainable. 

The Paris-based watchdog put the UAE on the grey list, citing “strategic deficiencies” in its anti-money laundering (AML) practices. 

The task force will send a team to visit the UAE early next year, usually a precursor to removal from the enhanced monitoring regime.

“The UAE looks forward to welcoming the FATF assessment team to the UAE and further demonstrating the enhanced and sustained effectiveness of our AML/CFT framework,” Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, UAE minister of state, said at the e fourth Plenary of FATF in Paris.

He added that cooperation with strategic international partners is critical to contributing to the global effort to detect and disrupt all forms of financial crime.

Khaled Mohammed Balama, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and Chairman of the UAE National Anti Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organisations Committee, said: “The UAE takes its role in protecting the integrity of the global financial system extremely seriously. The increased resources and expertise we have put in place underpin the UAE’s continued commitment to combating economic crime and disrupting illicit networks, both at home and abroad.”

Last week, four countries were removed from the FATF grey list: Jordan, the Cayman Islands, Panama, and Albania. These countries had demonstrated that they had taken steps to address the FATF’s concerns about their anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regimes.

The UAE is a major global financial hub, and its removal from the FATF grey list would signal to the international community that it is committed to combating financial crime and that its financial system is safe and secure.

Currently, 23 countries are on the FATF grey list, which is typically applied to countries with gaps in their AML)/countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) regimes, but commitments have been made to fix these gaps quickly.

The UAE has enhanced its AML and CFT regulatory regime and increased enforcement actions across its main jurisdictions, including the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).