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  • Chapter 4: Continuing Obligations

    • Introduction

      The Licensed Person is expected to carry out its business in compliance with all applicable Laws, Rules, Regulations, Notices and the Standards. This chapter provides clarifications on some of the continuing obligations of a Licensed Person. The Licensed Person is advised to carefully review Article 9.1 of the Regulations and comply with all requirements at all times.

    • 4.1 Total Assets to Paid-up Capital Ratio [Article 9.1 (a) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.1.1The total assets of the Licensed Person must not exceed ten (10) times the amount of its paid-up capital. In other words, the total assets to the paid-up capital ratio must not exceed 10:1 at any point in time; and
      2. 4.1.2The Licensed Person must comply with the following standards in relation to the calculation of this ratio:
        1. a)Gross value of assets must be taken for the calculation, i.e. no netting-off of assets and liabilities will be permitted unless it is in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards;
        2. b)Total assets must not include any post-dated-cheques and/or amounts held as unclaimed funds with the Licensed Person as per Paragraph 18.2.1 (e) of Chapter 18;
        3. c)Statutory reserve may be added to the paid up capital provided that the Licensed Person has the obligation to maintain such a reserve as per the prevailing Commercial Companies Law of the UAE;
        4. d)Accumulated losses, including current year losses, must be deducted from the paid-up capital; and
        5. e)Where there are subsidiaries or other foreign offices, the Licensed Person must also comply with Paragraph 4.1.1 of this Chapter based on the consolidated financial statements.
    • 4.2 Manager in Charge [Article 9.1 (b) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.2.1Appointment of the Manager in Charge must be made only after obtaining a Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department. Refer to Paragraph 6.4 of Chapter 6 for additional standards in this regard;
      2. 4.2.2The Licensed Person must implement an appropriate Succession Plan to manage its business during the temporary absence, such as leave or vacation, of the Manager in Charge. The Succession Plan must also fulfil the requirements of Paragraph 6.4.7 (b) of Chapter 6;
      3. 4.2.3The Manager in Charge must be an authorised signatory granted with Power of Attorney from the Licensed Person or its Owner/Partners/Board of Directors to manage its day to day business; and
      4. 4.2.4The employment contract of the Manager in Charge must contain a clause for treating any violation on the part of the Manager in Charge as a criminal offence if it is proven that the Manager in Charge has signed or made any incorrect or misleading statement to the Central Bank.
    • 4.3 Alterations [Article 9.1 (c) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.3.1The Licensed Person is not permitted to alter the following without obtaining a Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department with an exception provided under Paragraph 4.3.2 of this Chapter:
        1. a)Legal status of the business;
        2. b)Ownership or Ownership structure;
        3. c)Location of the licensed premises or offices;
        4. d)Paid-up capital; and
        5. e)Value of the bank guarantee favouring the Central Bank.
      2. 4.3.2The Licensed Person may increase its paid-up capital and the value of bank guarantee favouring the Central Bank without obtaining the Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department in order to comply with the requirements of Paragraphs 2.6.1 (c) and 2.6.2 of Chapter 2. The Licensed Person must notify the Banking Supervision Department upon making such alterations.
    • 4.4 Merger, Amalgamation and Joint Venture Arrangements [Article 9.1 (d) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.4.1A Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department must be obtained in order for the Licensed Person to merge, amalgamate or enter into a joint venture with any other person, whether natural or juridical;
      2. 4.4.2The Licensed Person is not permitted to enter into any agreement to manage or to be managed by any other person, whether natural or juridical, without obtaining the Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department. All such management agreements must be in line with the UAE Laws and all applicable Regulations; and
      3. 4.4.3The Licensed Person is not permitted to transfer, rent/lease out the license for a remuneration or otherwise to any other party, whether it is a natural or juridical person.
    • 4.5 Licensed Premises and Products [Article 9.1 (e) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.5.1The Licensed Person is not permitted to carry out its activities including the KYC Process from any place outside the premises approved by the Central Bank apart from an exception under Paragraph 4.5.7 of this Chapter;
      2. 4.5.2Paragraph 4.5.1 of this Chapter shall not deter the Licensed Person from conducting site visits as part of completing Enhanced Due Diligence in accordance with Paragraph 16.11.2 (d) of Chapter 16;
      3. 4.5.3The Licensed Person is not permitted to carry out its activities from any temporary counters, extension counters or in a client’s office, client’s residence or from any place outside its approved premises;
      4. 4.5.4The Licensed Person, who participates in WPS, may distribute salaries in cash outside its licensed premises (i.e. at client’s premises) until payroll cards are introduced in accordance with Paragraph 1.2.3 (e) of Chapter 1 provided that the Licensed Person:
        1. a)has obtained the necessary approvals from the police authorities in the respective Emirates; and
        2. b)complies with all applicable Laws, Rules, Regulations and Notices in relation to security and safety.
      5. 4.5.5The Licensed Person is not permitted to engage in any business activities other than those in accordance with Paragraph 1.2 of Chapter 1;
      6. 4.5.6The Licensed Person must not lease out or rent out its licensed premises to any other party; and
      7. 4.5.7The Licensed Person may carry out the KYC Process for its customers, who are natural persons, outside the premises approved by the Central Bank subject to the following conditions:
        1. a)The KYC Process must be carried out directly by the employees of the Licensed Person;
        2. b)The Licensed Person must accept only Emirates ID of the customer as the identification document;
        3. c)Information of the Emirates ID must be extracted using a card reader obtained from the Emirates ID Authority; and
        4. d)A copy of the Emirates ID certified as “Original Sighted and Verified” under the signature of the employee who carries out the KYC Process must be retained. Alternatively, a print out of the extract of information obtained using the Emirates ID card and reader containing customer information must be retained. This print out must be certified as “Original Sighted and Verified” under the signature of an employee of the Licensed Person.
    • 4.6 Trade Name [Article 9.1 (f) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.6.1The Licensed Person’s legal/trade name/trade mark must always contain the word “Exchange”;
      2. 4.6.2The legal/trade name must be approved by the Central Bank;
      3. 4.6.3The Licensed Person must not alter its legal/trade name without obtaining a Letter of No Objection from the Central Bank;
      4. 4.6.4The legal/trade name must not contain any undesirable word that will mislead the customers about the nature of business activities of the Licensed Person;
      5. 4.6.5Some examples of undesirable words are listed below (the list is not exhaustive):
        • Bank, Financial Institution, Finance, Financing;
        • Real Estate, Insurance, Investment;
        • Gold, Silver, Precious Stone, Commodity, Stock, Shares, etc.
      6. 4.6.6The legal/trade name must not infringe the copyrights or intellectual property rights of any other natural or juridical person;
      7. 4.6.7Full legal/trade name of the Licensed Person must be clearly and prominently displayed on the main signage of the licensed premises, letter heads, business cards, transaction receipts and all other marketing/branding materials; and
      8. 4.6.8The name of business partners, such as correspondent banks, remittance partners or the management company must not appear on the main signage of the licensed premises.
    • 4.7 Official Receipts [Article 9.1 (h) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.7.1The official receipts must be given to customers for all types of transactions;
      2. 4.7.2The legal name of the Licensed Person, contact details (address, phone, email ID) of the branch that carries out the transaction, phone number for lodging customer complaints, website address (if any), etc. must be printed on all receipts;
      3. 4.7.3The below information must be printed on all transaction receipts at a minimum:
        1. a)The date and time (UAE local time) of the transaction;
        2. b)Product name (e.g.: Foreign currency buy or sell, outward remittance, inward remittance, WPS or the name of the special product or service, etc.);
        3. c)Relevant customer information as per Paragraphs 16.8.5, 16.9.10, 16.10.3 or 16.11.5 of Chapter 16, whichever is applicable;
        4. d)Foreign currency conversion rates against the local currency, if applicable;
        5. e)Transaction fees or charges, if applicable;
        6. f)The total value of the transaction in AED;
        7. g)Where it is a remittance transaction, the beneficiary details such as name of the beneficiary, beneficiary bank account details (account number and branch name) where applicable, destination country; and
        8. h)Where it is a remittance transaction, the name of the correspondent bank/correspondent financial institution/exchange house or the name of the instant money transfer service provider through which the remittance is routed.
      4. 4.7.4The terms and conditions related to the following must be printed on all receipts at a minimum:
        1. a)Cancellation and refund of the transaction including related charges and conversion rates applicable for the same;
        2. b)Charges and conversion rates that will be applied for amendments or re-issuance of money transfers;
        3. c)Back-end charges or any other bank charges at foreign correspondent banks for money transfers must be disclosed if it is deducted from the amount payable to the beneficiary; and
        4. d)Maximum period available for a customer to lodge a complaint from the date of transaction.
    • 4.8 Display of Rates [Article 9.1 (h) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.8.1Rates must be displayed during working hours in a prominent place of the licensed premises and clearly visible to customers. The following rates must be displayed at a minimum:
        1. a)Buy and sell rate against the local currency (i.e. AED) for US Dollars, Euro, Pound Sterling, Japanese Yen and other major foreign currencies that the Licensed Person deals in; and
        2. b)Rates for major foreign currencies that the Licensed Person deals in against the local currency for remittances.
    • 4.9 SMS Notification [Article 9.1 (j) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.9.1The SMS service must be integrated in the systems of the Licensed Person to notify parties involved in the money transfer transactions about the status of transactions as follows:
        1. a)SMS notifications must be sent to remitters of all outward remittances at the time of processing the payment instructions for transmitting to correspondents (such as foreign banks, exchange houses, etc.);
        2. b)SMS notification must be sent to remitters of all outward remittances in the case of outward instant money transfers;
        3. c)Two SMS notifications must be sent to beneficiaries of the agent specific inward remittance transactions. The first SMS at the time of receiving the payment instruction from the correspondent and the second SMS at the time of actual payment to the beneficiary;
        4. d)One SMS notification is sufficient, i.e. at the time of payment, in the case of inward instant money transfers which are not agent specific; and
        5. e)The Licensed Person must maintain a log in the system that shows the status of SMS notifications for each transaction.
    • 4.10 Encumbered Assets [Article 9.1 (k) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.10.1The Licensed Person is not permitted to encumber any of its assets without obtaining a Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department;
      2. 4.10.2The Licensed Person must obtain the Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department before providing deposits to be held under a lien or encumbrance or as collateral deposits to banks/financial institutions in order to:
        1. a)obtain bank guarantees favouring the Central Bank for licensing purposes;
        2. b)obtain remittance arrangements with local or foreign institutions (via cash deposits or guarantees); and
        3. c)obtain any other type of facilities from financial institutions or banks.
      3. 4.10.3Deposits for labour guarantee or utility services do not require the Licensed Person to obtain the Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department;
      4. 4.10.4Deposits of excess cash with a bank or financial institution for a fixed term/period by the Licensed Person must be available for liquidation immediately on demand; and
      5. 4.10.5The Licensed Person must not act as a guarantor or a facilitator of any other person, natural or juridical, to avail any credit facility for such person.
    • 4.11 Profit Distribution [Article 9.1 (l) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.11.1Distribution of net annual profit for any financial year to the Owner/Partners/Shareholders must be made only after the audit of financial statements for that year, subject to the conditions under Paragraphs 4.11.2 to 4.11.5 of this Chapter;
      2. 4.11.2The distribution of net annual profit among Partners/Shareholders must be in accordance with the agreed profit sharing ratio;
      3. 4.11.3The annual audit of such financial statements must be carried out by an External Auditor appointed in accordance with the Paragraph 7.3.2 of Chapter 7;
      4. 4.11.4The Licensed Person must ensure sufficient liquidity in the business at all times in accordance with Paragraph 4.18 of this Chapter; and
      5. 4.11.5The share of profit must be paid off to the Owner/Partners/Shareholders within fifteen (15) calendar days from the date of decision to distribute such profit. If not, the Central Bank reserves the right to treat such amounts as the current account balance of the Owner/Partners/Shareholders (Refer to Paragraph 4.12 of this Chapter).
    • 4.12 Borrowing, Lending or Maintaining Current Accounts [Article 9.1 (m) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.12.1The Licensed Person is not permitted to borrow from or lend money to or maintain a current account in the name of its owners, shareholders, partners, directors, managers, controllers, group companies, subsidiaries or customers; and
      2. 4.12.2Salary advance by a Licensed Person to its employees is permitted subject to the following conditions:
        1. a)The maximum advance must not exceed the total of immediately preceding six (6) months’ gross salary of the employee; and
        2. b)Such advance must be made only towards employee’s housing expenses, medical expenses, education/training fees, air tickets or on other humanitarian grounds such as death/illness of an immediate family member.
    • 4.13 Remittances Intermediate Account [Articles 9.1 (n) and (o) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.13.1“Designated Remittance Intermediate Account” with a Bank:
        1. a)A Licensed Person who is in possession of a Category B or C license must maintain an account with a Bank licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE to be used exclusively as a “Designated Remittance Intermediate Account”;
        2. b)The Licensed Person who conducts remittance business must deposit the funds received from its remittance customers directly into the “Designated Remittance Intermediate Account” before the end of banking hours on the next business day (i.e. the next business day following the day on which the funds were received); and
        3. c)The Licensed Person must use the funds available in the “Designated Remittance Intermediate Account” solely for the purpose of settling the customers’ remittances with the foreign correspondents (i.e. correspondent banks, exchange houses, financial institutions or instant money transfer service providers).
      2. 4.13.2Accounting Treatment:
        1. a)All outward remittance transactions must be initially recorded in a separate ledger account (in the General Ledger) titled as “Remittance Intermediate Account”;
        2. b)The Remittance Intermediate Account must be a separate control account in the General Ledger. The Licensed Person may maintain multiple sub accounts (either currency wise, country wise or correspondent wise at the discretion of the Licensed Person) under the above stated control account;
        3. c)Outward remittance transactions must be transferred to the respective ledger accounts of foreign correspondents (in the General Ledger) as and when the remittance instructions are issued (i.e. upon payment order transmission) to foreign correspondents;
        4. d)The remittance instructions must be issued to foreign correspondents only after prefunding the account, if the settlement is on a prefund basis; and
        5. e)An amount equal to the liabilities towards the remittance customers (i.e. the balance in the Remittance Intermediate Account in relation to unprocessed transactions) must be available at all times in the form of local currency, balances in the Designated Remittance Intermediate Account and foreign banks to cover the liabilities towards the remittance customers.
      3. 4.13.3Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) on the Remittance Intermediate Account:
        1. a)External Auditors must perform Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) on the Remittance Intermediate Account and report their findings on a monthly basis to the Board of Directors (or to the Owner/Partners where there is no Board of Directors). Please refer to Appendix 6 for the minimum required Agreed-Upon Procedures to be performed by the External Auditor in this regard.
      4. 4.13.4Exception:
        1. a)Standards related to the Remittance Intermediate Account are not applicable to remittance arrangements through instant money transfer service providers who do not require any prefunding by the Licensed Person to pay beneficiaries at the destination.
    • 4.14 Renewal of License [Article 9.1 (r) of the Regulations]

      1. 4.14.1Application for the renewal of a license must be submitted to the Licensing Division of the Banking Supervision Department at least two (2) months prior to the date of expiry of the license; and
      2. 4.14.2In case, the Licensed Person exhibits major non-compliance with applicable Laws, Rules, Regulations, Notices and the Standards, then the Central Bank reserves the right to refuse the renewal of the license or to renew it for a period shorter than one (1) year.
    • 4.15 Display of Licenses and List of Permitted Activities

      1. 4.15.1A copy of the license issued by the Central Bank must be displayed in all licensed premises at a prominent location in addition to the commercial or trading license issued by the competent authority of the respective Emirate; and
      2. 4.15.2The Licensed Person must also visibly display a list of its permitted activities (i.e. whether the Licensed Person offers Foreign Currency Exchange, Remittance Operations or Payment of Wages using WPS) at a prominent location inside as well as outside (closer to the main door) of all licensed premises.
    • 4.16 Display of Working Hours

      1. 4.16.1The working hours of branches/Head Office or Management Office must be visibly displayed at a prominent location inside as well as outside (closer to the main door) of the respective licensed premises.
    • 4.17 Banknotes Import and Export from/to Foreign Institutions

      1. 4.17.1The Licensed Person must obtain a Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department for establishing relationship with any foreign institution for importing and/or exporting of banknotes;
      2. 4.17.2The Banking Supervision Department shall issue the Letter of No Objection based on the merit of each application from the Licensed Person provided that the following requirements are satisfied:
        1. a)Minimum paid-up capital of the Licensed Person and the bank guarantee favouring the Central Bank is:
          • AED 50 million in case of Limited Liability Companies; and
          • AED 10 million in other cases.
        2. b)The risk grading awarded to the Licensed Person by the Central Bank must be either Low or Medium.
      3. 4.17.3The Licensed Person must provide the following information/documents along with the application for the Letter of No Objection:
        • The full legal name and address of the foreign institution;
        • Draft copy of the bilateral agreement;
        • Nature of the intended business, whether it is import or export of banknotes or both;
        • Purpose of importing banknotes from the respective foreign institution;
        • Source of banknotes exported to the respective foreign institution;
        • Separate list of currencies to be imported and/or exported from/to the respective foreign institution and the projected annual value for each currency for next three (3) years;
        • Expected number of shipments (separately for import and export) per year and projected value of each shipment in local currency for next three (3) years;
        • Confirmation that the Enhanced Due Diligence has been carried out on the respective foreign institution; and
        • List of similar existing arrangements and the current yearly volume and value of business in each currency for each entity.
      4. 4.17.4Import or export of banknotes must be made only from/to an institution which is a licensed financial institution from a well regulated jurisdiction;
      5. 4.17.5The Licensed Person must carry out the Enhanced Due Diligence, in accordance with Paragraph 16.11.2 of Chapter 16, on such foreign institutions before requesting for the Letter of No objection from the Banking Supervision Department;
      6. 4.17.6The Licensed Person must have appropriate agreements with such foreign institutions containing suitable clauses to cover all risks associated with importing and exporting of banknotes;
      7. 4.17.7The Licensed Person must complete the settlement for each shipment, whether import or export, within a period of seven (7) business days from the date of receiving/dispatching the shipment;
      8. 4.17.8The validity of the Letter of No Objection issued by the Banking Supervision Department is for a maximum period of three (3) years. The Central Bank reserves the right to restrict the validity of such Letter of No Objection for a period less than three (3) years depending on the risk grading of the Licensed Person; and
      9. 4.17.9The Central Bank reserves the right, if it deems appropriate, to restrict the use of imported banknotes to be sold via own branches of the Licensed Person to its retail customers and not for supplying to other Licensed Persons or Financial Institutions that are operating inside or outside the UAE.
    • 4.18 Liquidity of the Business

      1. 4.18.1Current assets of a Licensed Person must be at least 1.2 times of the current liabilities at all times;
      2. 4.18.2Current assets in this context consists of the following items from the Balance Sheet:
        1. a)Cash in hand (i.e. local and foreign currency stocks);
        2. b)Balances with banks (i.e. local and foreign bank balances);
        3. c)Receivables from the other financial institutions (local and foreign);
        4. d)Cheques which are within the validity period of six (6) months from the date of issue (i.e. valid cheques) received from the customers; and
        5. e)Unencumbered fixed deposits with banks or financial institutions with a remaining maturity period of less than three (3) months.
      3. 4.18.3Item (c) of Paragraph 4.18.2 of this Chapter must be recoverable and are not dormant or inactive during the past thirty (30) calendar days;
      4. 4.18.4For the computation of the current assets, the following items must not be considered:
        1. a)Post-dated cheques;
        2. b)Pre-payments;
        3. c)Mandatory deposits such as deposits for utility services, labor guarantee, etc.;
        4. d)Deposits under lien of any kind;
        5. e)Deposits which cannot be liquidated upon demand; and
        6. f)Debit balances in the current account of the owners, directors, controllers, managers, employees, customers, etc., if any (Refer to Paragraph 4.12 of this Chapter).
      5. 4.18.5Current liabilities in this context consists of the following items from the Balance Sheet:
        1. a)Liabilities towards customers for any outward remittances (local and foreign including the amount of unclaimed funds);
        2. b)Sundry Creditors;
        3. c)Accruals;
        4. d)Liabilities towards the beneficiaries of the inward remittances if the funds are received by the Licensed Person;
        5. e)Liabilities related to WPS;
        6. f)Amounts payable to banks and other financial institutions upon demand or payable within three (3) months - local and foreign;
        7. g)Any valid cheques issued by the Licensed Person which is not netted off against the bank balance; and
        8. h)Credit balances in the current account of the owners, directors, controllers, managers, employees, customers, etc., if any (Refer to Paragraph 4.12 of this Chapter).
      6. 4.18.6For the computation of current liabilities, the following items must not be considered:
        1. a)Post-dated cheques;
        2. b)Any kind of provisions including the provision for gratuity, leave salary, air tickets for the employees, annual maintenance contracts, etc.; and
        3. c)Amounts payable after three (3) months to banks and other financial institutions - local and foreign.
    • 4.19 Equity and Minimum Paid-up Capital Requirements

      1. 4.19.1Total Equity of the Licensed Person must not fall below the minimum required paid-up capital as stipulated in Paragraph 2.3 of Chapter 2;
      2. 4.19.2Total Equity includes:
        1. a)Paid-up Capital;
        2. b)Statutory/Legal Reserves;
        3. c)General Reserves or any other Reserves of similar nature;
        4. d)Current year profits or losses (i.e. profits to be added and losses to be deducted); and
        5. e)Retained earnings/accumulated profits or losses (i.e. retained earnings/profits to be added and losses to be deducted).
      3. 4.19.3Debit balance in the current account of the owner/partners/shareholders, if any, must be deducted from the Total Equity;
      4. 4.19.4Where the Total Equity falls below the minimum required paid-up capital, the Licensed Person must inject additional paid-up capital to balance the equity position after obtaining a Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department. Such injection of additional paid-up capital must be made within six (6) months from the date when the equity falls below the minimum required paid-up capital; and
      5. 4.19.5In the case of a newly established business, the Licensed Person is entitled for a grace period of one (1) year from the date of commencement of the business before being required to inject additional paid-up capital to comply with the requirements of Paragraph 4.19.4 of this Chapter, unless specifically instructed by the Central Bank to do so.
    • 4.20 Authorized Signatories

      1. 4.20.1The authorized signatory who signs correspondence (i.e. letters, requests for various purpose etc.) with the Central Bank must possess a Power of Attorney (PoA) from the Licensed Person or its Owner/Partners/Shareholders with exemptions under Paragraphs 4.20.3 and 4.20.4 of this Chapter, unless such person is the sole owner of the Licensed Person;
      2. 4.20.2The Central Bank will not act on or respond to any correspondence signed by parties other than authorized signatories having Power of Attorney in accordance with Paragraph 4.20.1 of this Chapter;
      3. 4.20.3The Compliance Officer of the Licensed Person may sign responses to ‘Search’ or ‘Search and Freeze’ notices from the Central Bank. The Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR) must be signed by the Compliance Officer at all times;
      4. 4.20.4The Licensed Person or its authorized signatory may delegate the authority to other employees of the Licensed Person to sign the periodical returns/reports (such as monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual returns) to be submitted to the Central Bank. The Licensed Person and its authorized signatory shall retain the responsibility for the accuracy of all such returns even after the delegation;
      5. 4.20.5The Licensed Person or its Board of Directors (or the Owner/Partner where there is no Board of Directors) must not grant a Power of Attorney of any kind to any party other than a full time employee, Director of the Board, Partner or a Shareholder of the Licensed Person; and
      6. 4.20.6The Licensed Person or its Board of Directors (or the Owner/Partner where there is no Board of Directors) must not authorize any party other than a full time employee, Director of the Board, Partner or a Shareholder of the Licensed Person to act as an authorized signatory of its local or foreign bank account.
    • 4.21 Reporting to the Central Bank

      1. 4.21.1The Licensed Person may refer to Appendix 3 of the Standards for the list of returns/reports to be submitted to the Central Bank;
      2. 4.21.2The Licensed Person must submit all returns/reports to the Central Bank on or before the reporting deadlines; and
      3. 4.21.3The Licensed Person must obtain access to the Central Bank reporting portals, such as Daily Remittances Reporting System, IRR System (Integrated Regulatory Reporting System), Suspicious Transaction Reporting System, etc. for the submission of periodical online reports.
    • 4.22 Business Plans and Budgets

      1. 4.22.1A short term business plan, called the “Budget”, must be agreed and approved by the Board of Directors (or by the Owner/Partners where there is no Board of Directors) at the beginning of each financial year;
      2. 4.22.2A comparison of actual performance against budgets must be performed at the end of every financial year, at a minimum, and variances must be analysed to identify the events that led to the actual performance deviating from the budget; and
      3. 4.22.3The Licensed Person must also have a long term business plan, preferably for a period of three to five (3 to 5) years, approved by the Board of Directors (or by the Owner/Partners where there is no Board of Directors).
    • 4.23 UAE National Employment Programs or Emiratisation

      1. 4.23.1The Licensed Person must ensure that the number of their UAE National employees is not less than 10% of the total number of employees or one UAE national employee in each office/branch, whichever is higher;
      2. 4.23.2All UAE National employees must be registered with Ministry of Labor and General Pension and Social Security Authority;
      3. 4.23.3The Licensed Person may deduct the number of ancillary staff (such as drivers, office boys, cleaning staff, security staff, etc.) from the total number of employees for the computation of 10% of the total number of employees; and
      4. 4.23.4The Central Bank reserves the right to issue Regulations regarding Emiratisation in the Financial Industry from time to time. The Licensed Persons must comply with such future Regulations as and when the same are issued.
    • 4.24 Opening of Subsidiaries and Offices

      1. 4.24.1The Licensed Person must obtain a Letter of No Objection from the Banking Supervision Department to invest in or to open subsidiaries or offices of any kind, whether outside or inside the UAE; and
      2. 4.24.2The paid-up capital of the Licensed Person after netting off investments in such subsidiaries or offices must not fall below the minimum required paid-up capital as stipulated in Paragraph 2.3 of Chapter 2.
    • 4.25 Investigations and Litigation

      1. 4.25.1The Licensed Person must immediately inform the Banking Supervision Department if it becomes aware that the Licensed Person or its Owner/Partners/Shareholders, Director of the Board, employees or subsidiaries is/are the subject of an investigation of criminal nature by a local or foreign investigating agency;
      2. 4.25.2The Licensed Person must immediately inform the Banking Supervision Department if it becomes aware that it is a party to any litigation whether civil or criminal in nature; and
      3. 4.25.3The Licensed Person must maintain appropriate registers and records related to such investigations and litigations.
    • 4.26 Compliance with Laws and Regulations

      The Standards for the Regulations Regarding Licensing and Monitoring of Exchange Business
      1. 4.26.1The Licensed Person must comply with all applicable Laws (examples: Labor Law, Commercial Companies Law, etc.), Rules and Regulations of the UAE in addition to the Standards and Notices issued by the Central Bank at all times.
    • 4.27 Responses to the ‘Search’ or ‘Search and Freeze’ Notices

      1. 4.27.1The Licensed Person must respond to the ‘Search’ or ‘Search and Freeze’ notices from the Central Bank and other Enforcement Authorities within the time frame provided in such notices; and
      2. 4.27.2Appropriate evidence must be held in a separate file in order for the Central Bank Examiners to confirm the status of compliance with this requirement.
    • 4.28 AED Settlement via UAEFTS

      1. 4.28.1The Licensed Person must settle all transactions within the UAE in AED only via UAEFTS;
      2. 4.28.2The Licensed Person may request the Banking Supervision Department for access to UAEFTS; and
      3. 4.28.3The Central Bank will provide access to UAEFTS only if the systems of the Licensed Person meets the UAEFTS requirements.
    • 4.29 Gifts and Entertainments

      1. 4.29.1The Licensed Person, its Owner/Partners/Shareholders, Directors on the Board, management or employees must not offer gifts (whether in cash or in kind) and entertainments to or attempt to influence employees of the Central Bank in any manner.
    • 4.30 Pricing Changes

      1. 4.30.1The Licensed Person must seek a Letter of No Objection from the Central Bank and provide a solid business case to support the pricing initiative prior to introducing new pricing or increasing pricing for products related to their licensed activities.