Goodbye to Dubai and all UAE Banks friendliness?

[Zed]

Some recent last month's news:
Hope that people dealing with local Banks in Dubai can comment on this.
Especially interested to hear from Fred and CaptK

DNFPBS UNDER HIGHEST LEVEL OF SCRUTINY EVER FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING LAW


DNFPBS UNDER HIGHEST LEVEL OF SCRUTINY EVER FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING LAW - Rethink/


Ministry of Economy


UAE's Ministry of Economy unveils list of violations, fines for money laundering/


In October 2020, over 200 UAE law firms had their license suspended by the Ministry of Justice.
In November 2020, 7 Law Firms were fined for breaching AML procedures in a crackdown.
In January 2021, the Central Bank of UAE imposed financial sanctions on 11 banks for non-compliance with UAE AML Regulations


The DNFBPs include a wide range of non-financial activities that are most exposed to money laundering. As per Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the UAE AML Law, they have been divided into the following categories:


Brokers and Real Estate Agents
Dealers of Precious Metals and Precious Stones
Law firms, Notaries and independent legal professionals
Professionals including Accounting and Audit Firms
Corporate Service Providers and Trusts


The immediate requirement is to register in the system of:


Financial Intelligence Unit (goAML); and
Committee for Commodities Subject to Import and Export Control (Automatic Reporting System for Sanctions Lists)
In addition to the above, the DNFBPs are required to:


Appoint a Compliance Officer;
Exercise due diligence on clients by verifying the identity of customer and beneficial owner before establishing a business relationship or opening an account; and
Ensure compliance with Sanctions screening and reporting any suspicious activity.

 

[Gediminas]

Yeh, goAML is a new thing for all intermediaries and the ones dealing in this industry.

It's based on the fact that UAE does not want to become blacklisted.

I mentioned this many times and will repeat again - don't put your blind eye on it with thinking "banks won't ask any questions".

 

[CaptK]

Some recent last month's news:
Hope that people dealing with local Banks in Dubai can comment on this.
Especially interested to hear from Fred and CaptK

DNFPBS UNDER HIGHEST LEVEL OF SCRUTINY EVER FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING LAW


DNFPBS UNDER HIGHEST LEVEL OF SCRUTINY EVER FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING LAW - Rethink/


Ministry of Economy


UAE's Ministry of Economy unveils list of violations, fines for money laundering/


In October 2020, over 200 UAE law firms had their license suspended by the Ministry of Justice.
In November 2020, 7 Law Firms were fined for breaching AML procedures in a crackdown.
In January 2021, the Central Bank of UAE imposed financial sanctions on 11 banks for non-compliance with UAE AML Regulations


The DNFBPs include a wide range of non-financial activities that are most exposed to money laundering. As per Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the UAE AML Law, they have been divided into the following categories:


Brokers and Real Estate Agents
Dealers of Precious Metals and Precious Stones
Law firms, Notaries and independent legal professionals
Professionals including Accounting and Audit Firms
Corporate Service Providers and Trusts


The immediate requirement is to register in the system of:


Financial Intelligence Unit (goAML); and
Committee for Commodities Subject to Import and Export Control (Automatic Reporting System for Sanctions Lists)
In addition to the above, the DNFBPs are required to:


Appoint a Compliance Officer;
Exercise due diligence on clients by verifying the identity of customer and beneficial owner before establishing a business relationship or opening an account; and
Ensure compliance with Sanctions screening and reporting any suspicious activity.

Yes I had to register for it and the deadline is end of the month.

It's basically following simple AML checks there is nothing complicated about it. To be honest it is still more stringent in the UK in comparison.

There has been a problem with agents especially lawyers who have been paid very well to structure a solution. A lot of them were very complacent and also didn't really know who they were dealing with.

 

[Fred]

Just had today bank meetings with @wie7se - banks are still friendly and welcomes you.

Beside of what the other guys already mentioned we make always personal calls and meet each client in person to prepare the bank meetings.

We focus on competing in quality - not in price and therefore we can handle only a few clients each month we establish a personal relationship with.

The posted article and the introduced laws are mainly because business trade license resellers with 100+ incorporations each month failed to do a proper KYC/AML check and even incorporated with fake documents or people that were no longer alive. Because of this some smaller Business Authorities even require a personal call now.

 

[RMerkle]

Just had today bank meetings with @wie7se - banks are still friendly and welcomes you.

Beside of what the other guys already mentioned we make always personal calls and meet each client in person to prepare the bank meetings.

We focus on competing in quality - not in price and therefore we can handle only a few clients each month we establish a personal relationship with.

Thank you for the update! I would be happy to schedule a personal call once you have availability again. Quality should always be top priority.

 

[Davis123]

Yes I had to register for it and the deadline is end of the month.

It's basically following simple AML checks there is nothing complicated about it. To be honest it is still more stringent in the UK in comparison.

There has been a problem with agents especially lawyers who have been paid very well to structure a solution. A lot of them were very complacent and also didn't really know who they were dealing with.

It seems rather very odd that the same AML rules don't apply to London and NYC the largest centers of money laundering.

 

[user9823671]

It seems rather very odd that the same AML rules don't apply to London and NYC the largest centers of money laundering.

It's because they run things. Rules don't apply to the rules

 

[Davis123]

It's because they run things. Rules don't apply to the rules

Rules don't apply to rulers. . These rules are made so they can maximize their own benefits and control their people from escaping.

 

[Martin Everson]

This is long overdue. Dubai is a place where one can call up a well known estate agent and one can pay third party funds into their business account for them to purchase property in your name no questions asked.

 

[troubled soul]

Very true , Top real state broker accept money in Cash, Crypto, Card any form of payment . If they make things difficult , Nobody is going to buy their property . Biggest reason for Dubai property boom is "Hub for Money laundering ". If they do too much KYC/AML drama , 1% leave the country and It completely finish their economy . It is an open secret for Dubai. Spend your money on car and bebe and enjoy life . They do not have any problem. Do not do any crime in Dubai . That's the only one rule apply in dubai .

 

[Mark Rucken]

It's because they run things. Rules don't apply to the rules

This, literally THIS.

You can walk in Chase and open account as non-resident if you are dressed well. In UAE banks they ask so many questions lately that people often give up because they can not be bothered anymore. In the past few weeks I heard several people got their account closed in UAE for no specific reason. I imagine bank policies are getting more and more strict and they tend to close accounts that had any "high risk" transaction.

 

[Martin Everson]

Very true , Top real state broker accept money in Cash, Crypto, Card any form of payment . If they make things difficult , Nobody is going to buy their property . Biggest reason for Dubai property boom is "Hub for Money laundering ". If they do too much KYC/AML drama , 1% leave the country and It completely finish their economy . It is an open secret for Dubai. Spend your money on car and bebe and enjoy life . They do not have any problem. Do not do any crime in Dubai . That's the only one rule apply in dubai .

Exactly.

I don't think Dubai has worked out that there economy is nearly entirely funded by dirty money from Russians, Nigerians, cyber criminals, scammers etc. All this due diligence to please international partners and soon they will soon find out they are swimming naked.

Let Dubai introduce for example introduce next unexplained wealth orders like in UK and Dubai would be empty of the rich overnight ...lol.

 

[Davis123]

Exactly.

I don't think Dubai has worked out that there economy is nearly entirely funded by dirty money from Russians, Nigerians, cyber criminals, scammers etc. All this due diligence to please international partners and soon they will soon find out they are swimming naked.

Let Dubai introduce for example introduce next unexplained wealth orders like in UK and Dubai would be empty of the rich overnight ...lol.

I think they don't take Nigerian funds anymore. Russians and Chinese are welcomed.

 

[Martin Everson]

I think they don't take Nigerian funds anymore. Russians and Chinese are welcomed.

I hope not

https://www.herald.ng/list-powerful-nigerians-with-billions-worth-of-dubai-properties/

 

[digirider]

Note that billions are Nigerian money, not actual dollars. Those Nigerians are small spenders as compared to this fraudster from UK dubai database leak...

 

[CaptK]

It's Americans who are the biggest dumpers of cash in the UAE.

Yes Americans................

 

[Pup]

It's not a news, UAE banks are not for all and AML/KYC compliance were taken in place from a long time.

 

[Davis123]

It's Americans who are the biggest dumpers of cash in the UAE.

Yes Americans................

Last I checked it was Indians after UAE nationals of course owning most of UAE properties. US citizens not there in the list CaptK.
Top 10 nationalities of property investors in Dubai

1. UAE. Transactions: 12,000. Value: Dhs37.4bn.
2. India. Transactions: 10,628. Value: Dhs20.42bn.
3. Pakistan. Transactions: 5,398. Value: Dhs7bn.
4. Saudi Arabia. Transactions: 5,366. Value: Dhs12.51bn.
5. UK. Transactions: 4,188. Value: Dhs9bn.
6. Egypt. Transactions: 2,439. Value: Dhs4bn.
7. Jordan. Transactions: 2,235. ...
8. China. Transactions: 2,177.

 

[CaptK]

It's not what you can see that their money is in.

Think telecoms, hospitality, commodities, gold, oil and gas

 

[Konstanz]

Last I checked it was Indians after UAE nationals of course owning most of UAE properties. US citizens not there in the list CaptK.
Top 10 nationalities of property investors in Dubai

1. UAE. Transactions: 12,000. Value: Dhs37.4bn.
2. India. Transactions: 10,628. Value: Dhs20.42bn.
3. Pakistan. Transactions: 5,398. Value: Dhs7bn.
4. Saudi Arabia. Transactions: 5,366. Value: Dhs12.51bn.
5. UK. Transactions: 4,188. Value: Dhs9bn.
6. Egypt. Transactions: 2,439. Value: Dhs4bn.
7. Jordan. Transactions: 2,235. ...
8. China. Transactions: 2,177.

It's beautiful to see how UAE attracts investors from various countries in the world. But how many people really live in those apartments? Are there any statistics of real full-time residents?