Money laundering and terrorist financing can destabilise communities, economic sectors, or whole national economies. Criminals and terrorist networks may be able to carry out their criminal and potentially destructive activities through undetected financial support structures.
The DFSA is committed to maintaining a supervisory regime that acts as a significant deterrent to any criminal elements, including money launderers and persons wishing to assist, in any way, acts of terrorism.
The DFSA’s supervisory regime for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF) applies to all financial and ancillary services provided through the DIFC and is consistent with international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
It is important to note that the DFSA Rulebook, including the AML module, operates independently of local regulatory requirements (the AML regulations of UAE Central Bank, the UAE Ministry of Economy and the federal securities regulator ESCA do not apply in the DIFC). However, the DIFC does not have a separate criminal legal regime from the UAE. The UAE Penal Code and other federal criminal laws continue to apply in the DIFC. Any criminal investigation and resulting penalties would be performed by UAE authorities.
The DFSA draws the attention of all Authorised Firms, Ancillary Service Providers, Authorised Market Institutions and Registered Auditors to the following legislation:
• Federal Law No. 4 of 2002 regarding criminalisation of money laundering (Arabic);
• Federal Law No. 4 of 2002 regarding criminalisation of money laundering (English); and
• Decree by Federal Law No 1 of 2004 on combating terrorism offences. Please refer to page 16 for the English translation.
Getting Help
• DFSA Rulebook: Applicable modules include: Anti-Money Laundering (AML), ASP (Chapters 5-6), AMI (Chapter 11).
• Enquiries: Firms who hold a licence from the DFSA should direct any enquiries through their relationship manager.