UAE Central Bank to take action against top Pakistani Bank
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ISLAMABAD - The UAE Central Bank on Wednesday said it is in close contact with Pakistan's central bank and will take appropriate regulatory actions against a Pakistani bank which has reportedly been founding violating the money laundering laws.
"We are in close contact with the home regulator of the Pakistani bank, the State Bank of Pakistan, and will take appropriate regulatory action once we have verified the findings reported in the media to confirm if there was any violation to UAE's Anti-Money Laundering and Combat of Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and procedures," the UAE Central Bank said in the statement on Wednesday, Khaleej Times has reported.
Earlier, State Bank of Pakistan, the country's central bank, had said in a finding that there were "significant irregularities" in Habib Bank Ltd's (HBL) dealing with politically exposed clients and screening some transactions in the Middle East. The inspection was carried out as part of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
HBL admitted that weaknesses were found in its UAE operations in 2017 and later it initiated a business transformation programme which is now largely complete and has put new leadership in place.
Bloomberg reported that HBL's UAE employees issued pay orders in their own names to help certain customers disguise transactions. The bank reportedly violated rules when opening an account of Duduzane Zuma, the son of South Africa's ex-President Jacob Zuma.
