The international anti-money laundering watchdog has removed the United Arab Emirates from its gray list. According to the organization, the UAE's ability to combat illicit money flows has improved significantly. This was reported by the FATF press service.
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As noted in the body's release, Barbados, Gibraltar, Uganda and the UAE were removed from the list of jurisdictions under enhanced monitoring for “significant progress in addressing strategic deficiencies that were previously identified during their mutual assessments.”
The Gulf country, which has historically attracted millionaires, bankers and hedge funds, came under scrutiny by the FATF in 2022 due to the high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing involving high-profile institutions, including banks.
At the same time, as Reuters notes, the EU continues to consider this country a country with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. The European Union's financial markets watchdog, ESMA, has banned European banks and other institutions from clearing transactions with the Dubai Commodity Clearing Corporation.
Despite concerns from the European regulator, the UAE is making efforts to curb financial crimes and suspected money laundering.
