The Central Bank of the UAE has imposed a financial sanction of AED 5.9 million on a branch of a foreign bank operating within the UAE for failure to comply with the country's anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism and illegal organisations framework. The penalty was disclosed through a press release on the CBUAE's official website.
The CBUAE announced the sanction on 2 July 2025. The CBUAE did not name the branch or its parent institution in the published notice, consistent with its approach across recent enforcement actions, where institutions are identified by category rather than by name in the public announcement.
VIOLATION RELATES TO AML/CFT FRAMEWORK OBLIGATIONS
The violation identified by the CBUAE concerns the branch's failure to comply with the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework established under UAE law. Federal Decree Law No. 20 of 2018 sets out core obligations for licensed financial institutions, including requirements around customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, suspicious transaction reporting, record-keeping and the maintenance of adequate internal controls dedicated to financial crime prevention.
The penalty came weeks after the CBUAE fined an exchange house AED 100 million in late May 2025 for AML failures. The CBUAE said that, through its supervisory and regulatory mandate, it aims to ensure that all banks and their employees comply fully with the UAE's laws and regulatory standards.
OTHER CBUAE ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS IN 2025
The penalty against this foreign bank branch is one of multiple AML/CFT enforcement actions the CBUAE has published across 2025. Those actions have targeted exchange houses, insurance brokers and banks, including foreign bank branches.