Article 44.11 of the Cabinet Decision No. (10) of 2019 Concerning the Implementing Regulation of Decree Law No. (20) of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Illegal Organisations charges Supervisory Authorities with “providing Financial Institutions…with guidelines and feedback to enhance the effectiveness of implementation of the Crime-combatting measures.”

The purpose of this Guidance is to assist the understanding and effective performance by the United Arab Emirates Central Bank’s (“CBUAE”) Licensed Exchange Houses (“LEH”) of their statutory obligations under the legal and regulatory framework in force in the UAE. It should be read in conjunction with the Chapter 16 of the Standards for the Regulations Regarding Licensing and Monitoring for Exchange Business, Version 1.20 of November 2021 amending Version 1.10 of February 2018 (issued by Notice No. xx/2021 dated xx/xx/2021), the CBUAE's Procedures for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Illicit Organizations (issued by Notice No. 74/2019 dated 19/06/2019) and Guidelines on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Illicit Organizations for Financial Institutions (issued by Notice 79/2019 dated 27/06/2019) and any amendments or updates thereof.¹ As such, while this Guidance neither constitutes additional legislation or regulation nor replaces or supersedes any legal or regulatory requirements or statutory obligations, it sets out the expectations of the CBUAE for LEH to be able to demonstrate compliance with these requirements. In the event of a discrepancy between this Guidance and the legal or regulatory frameworks currently in force, the latter will prevail. This Guidance may be supplemented with additional separate guidance materials, such as outreach sessions and thematic reviews conducted by the Central Bank.

Furthermore, this Guidance takes into account standards and guidance issued by the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), industry best practices and red flag indicators. These are not exhaustive and do not set limitations on the measures to be taken by LEH in order to meet their statutory obligations under the legal and regulatory framework currently in force. As such, LEH should perform their own assessments of the manner in which they should meet their statutory obligations.

This Guidance comes into effect immediately upon its issuance by the CBUAE with LEH expected to demonstrate compliance with its requirements within one month from its coming into effect.

¹Available at https://www.centralbank.ae/en/cbuae-amlcft.