The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) announced on Wednesday that it has revoked the license of Dirham Exchange, a UAE-based money exchange house, and has removed it from the Register due to serious violations of regulatory laws. Additionally, the CBUAE revoked the registration of RMB Commercial Brokers Co, a company operating in the country.
These administrative sanctions were imposed following an appeals procedure in accordance with Article 137 of the Decretal Federal Law No. (14) of 2018 regarding the Central Bank and the Organization of Financial Institutions and Activities, as well as Article 14 of the Federal Decree Law No. (20) of 2018 on Combating Money Laundering (AML) Crimes, the Financing of Terrorism, and the Financing of Illegal Organizations.
The sanctions were a result of the Central Bank’s detection of serious regulatory misconduct, including anti-money laundering violations and collusion in evading the Central Bank’s instructions for the exchange house to refrain from engaging in remittance transactions with specific countries.
The Central Bank’s investigation revealed a weak compliance framework and failure to meet regulatory obligations and report breaches to the CBUAE. The Central Bank emphasizes its commitment to ensuring that exchange houses, their owners, employees, and Hawaladars comply with UAE laws, regulations, and standards to uphold the transparency and integrity of the UAE financial system.
Earlier this year, the Central Bank took similar actions by revoking the license of Al Rasheed exchange company for serious regulatory misconduct and canceled the registrations of two insurance service providers, Seagull Insurance Services Co. and Al Shorafa Insurance Services, for violations of laws in June.
