Corporate Compliance

For companies operating in the Middle East, corporate compliance is necessary as an integral part of business operation, across all industries and sectors. This takes place in the form of companies and its employees adhering to policies, practices, laws, regulation and standards that are applicable to the industry and sector in which they operate.

The aims and purpose of a compliance regime is simply for the protection of your business. Businesses should strive to manage compliance and mitigate their risks. Implementing measures to prevent risk can provide businesses with immeasurable cost saving. This is due to protection from penalty, fines, lawsuits, fraud, reputation loss, and more damages that can arise from a violation of corporate compliance. Corporate compliance measures such as internal policies and procedures will safeguard your business from facing the potential repercussions from breaches and non-compliance. The process of compliance should be ongoing within business operations.

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A well-designed compliance programme, integrated into your company’s business operations, covering your management of internal policy, general regulations and inhouse employee training. Through employing a compliance initiative and ensuring it’s standard practice across your organization, risk of violations will be mitigated and safeguarded against.

What is KYC?

Know Your Customer (KYC) is the term used for when a business carries out the appropriate checks on a prospective client, through a series of systematic checks and information gathering. The aim of this process is to prevent, detect and deter Money Laundering (ML) / Financing Terrorism (FT) risks in your business. Keeping a record and maintaining accurate reports on the organisation’s clients is a critical element to ongoing KYC conformity.

KYC is a global standard and is particularly prominent for certain industries who are required to conduct new and ongoing due diligence on their client base and activity. The processes of KYC are used to protect all stakeholders within the business from violations, which makes KYC a very important aspect and a key interest for investors and firms. For an effective KYC, a business needs to include a process of customer identification, risk profiling, customer acceptance, risk rating, monitoring, investigation and record keeping

What is AML/CFT?

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) is the term which is used to refer to the laws, practices and regulations that businesses have in place in order to prevent criminal activity and illegally obtained funds from being used and disguised as legitimate income. This practice of having policies in place for AML measures is becoming increasingly prevalent and strict for financial service providers and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) to counteract funding of criminal activity and terrorism. The Combatting of Financing of Terrorism (CFT) is a set of government laws, regulations, and other practices that are intended to restrict access to funding and financial services for those whom the government designates as terrorists. By tracking down the source of the funds that support terrorist activities, law enforcement may be able to prevent some of those activities from occurring.

What is a DNFBP?

A Designated Non-Financial Business and Professions (DNFBP) is a compliance categorisation for companies which must uphold a higher scrutiny over their compliance requirements.

DNFBPs are obliged to assess and to understand the ML/FT risks to which they are exposed, and how they may be affected by those risks.

Companies seeing increased governing and responsibilities, with regards to compliance, are those involved in insurance, banking, other financial institutions and other DNFBPs including:

Lawyers, notaries, and other legal professionals
Auditors and accountants
Company and trust service providers
Dealers in precious metals and stones
Real estate agents and brokers

The increased scrutiny necessary for operating within these activities calls for heightened KYC, Due Diligence (DD) and AML checks and measures.

Why is AML important?

Money laundering and the financing of terrorism are crimes that threaten the security, stability and integrity of the global economic and financial system, and of society as a whole. Combatting money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities is therefore an urgent priority in the global fight against organised crime.

The UAE is deeply committed to combatting money laundering and the financing of terrorism and illegal organisations. To this end, the Competent Authorities have established the appropriate legislative, regulatory and institutional frameworks for the prevention, detection and deterrence of financial crimes, including ML/FT.

What are the compliance requirements?

To identify, assess, understand risks
To define the scope of and take necessary due diligence measures
To appoint a compliance officer, with relevant qualification and expertise and in line with the requirements of the relevant Supervisory Authority
To put in place adequate management and information systems, internal controls, policies, procedures to mitigate risks and monitor implementation
To put in place indicators to identify suspicious transactions
To report suspicious activity and cooperate with Competent Authorities
To promptly apply directives of Competent Authorities for implementing UN Security Council decisions
To maintain adequate records

What compliance services do PRO Partner Group offer?

AML – Registration

Standard and Enhanced KYC policy

Compliance handbooks/policies

We can help you fulfil certain obligations which constitute the basis of an effective risk-based Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) programme. Some of these include:

Identifying and assessing ML/FT risks
Establishing AML policy and procedures to mitigate the identified ML/FT risks

PPG can provide companies in the UAE with a breadth of services under the domain of AML and CFT compliance. Our expertise, knowledge, and industry experience bring a splash of value to every service that we render to our clients. Our team of AML professionals, compliance experts, financial analysts, technology enthusiasts, economists, policymakers, strategic decision-makers, law enforcement executives, and data scientists ensure to provide quality AML/CFT compliance services for your entire AML journey.

Documentation of AML/CFT policies
AML Training
Annual AML/CFT Risk Assessment
In-house AML compliance department setup
AML Software Selection
AML/CFT Health Check
Business Risk Assessment
Setting up your business and assigning your compliance officer in the GoAML platform

How can we help?

PRO Partner Group has an experienced team with unparalleled knowledge of business incorporation procedures and government regulatory requirements.

We can guide you through the process of regulatory compliance for your business, licensing, visa acquisition and liaising directly with government departments on your behalf.

If you need assistance with setting up a regulatory compliant company, onshore or offshore setup, restructuring, local partner or PRO support matter in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, the wider UAE, Oman, Qatar or KSA, then please do get in touch with us on +971 (0)4 456 1761 for Dubai or +971 (0)2 448 5120 for Abu Dhabi, email us at info@propartnergroup.com or complete the contact form below and we will be delighted to assist you.

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) in the UAE is a compliance programme that helps businesses to uncover and identify suspicious activities that may be associated with money laundering and terrorist financing. The principal legislation in the UAE is the Federal Decree-Law No. (20) of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organisations.

As criminal legislation is under federal jurisdiction throughout the UAE, including the Financial and Commercial Free Zones, the crimes of money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and the financing of illegal organisations are covered under federal criminal statutes and the federal penal code.

Placement, Layering and Integration

First Stage

Initial or Placement - The launderer introduces his illegal cash into the financial system (Banks / Exchange house).

Second Stage

Layering or Structuring - After the funds have entered the financial system. In this phase, the launderer engages in a series of conversions or movement of the funds to distance themselves from the money.

Third Stage

Integration - in which the funds re-enter the legitimate economy.

DNFBPs shall report Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) “via the electronic system of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) or by any other means approved by the FIU”, which is the FIU’s GoAML system

The compliance officer is DNFBP’s officer in charge of reviewing, scrutinizing and reporting Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs). In this capacity, the Compliance Officer (CO) is ultimately responsible for the detection of transactions related to the crimes of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and of illegal organisations, for reporting suspicions to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), and for cooperating with the Competent Authorities in relation to the performance of their duties in regard to AML/CFT. The CO should ensure the quality, strength and effectiveness of the DNFBP’s AML/CFT programme. The CO is responsible for helping to establish and maintain a strong and effective AML/CFT compliance culture within the DNFBP.

The Executive Office for Control & Non-Proliferation is pleased to announce the publication of an updated Guidance on Counter Proliferation Financing for FIs, DNFBPs, and VASPs

Published Date: 01 November 2022