CORPORATE
COMPLIANCE

Whether you have an established business or just starting a new one, you need to employ a person who will be able to effectively establish and manage an internal compliance program, conduct a risk assessment, and assist in managing the identified risks. We understand that hiring an experienced and knowledgeable compliance officer and/or MLRO is not an easy task to manage. InBusiness offers a cost-effective Outsourced Compliance Officer/MLRO solution by providing an outsourced professional who has the necessary knowledge and qualifications to you with daily challenges and periodic regulatory reporting routines.

To meet increasing regulatory requirements and demonstrate adherence to compliance with industry standards, rules, regulations, and laws required by governments or regulatory bodies.
Compliance reports (either mandatory or not) should include the description of steps and efforts undertaken by your company to comply with applicable rules, laws, and regulations, and eliminate previously identified discrepancies.
In InBusiness we can help you to identify the scope of the report, overview compliance processes and procedures, evaluate if they meet applicable requirements, and summarize a detailed report with recommendations on necessary improvements.

UAE regulatory authorities (including Free Zones) require registered companies to develop and maintain specific AML & Compliance policies and procedures to effectively combat money laundering and terrorism financing. InBusiness can assist you to draft and implement the required policies and procedures. Furthermore, we will keep the created policies and procedures updated with the latest legal and regulatory developments.

Customer identification is one of the basic but most important steps when the company can identify and assess potential risks of money laundering and financing of terrorism (ML/FT) associated with the customer. The customer identification procedure, also known as KYC (Know-Your-Customer) allows to gain a deeper understanding of the customer’s demographics, history, business operations, and transactions.

In order to assist you to identify and address relevant risks, InBusiness offers customer identification, verification, and screening solution to conduct:

1. customer due diligence (including enhanced due diligence)
2. risk assessment and customer risk rating
3. sanctions screening
4. politically exposed person (PEP) screening
5. adverse media screening
6. ongoing monitoring of high-risk customers

The company’s employees are the first line of defence of both company’s reputation as well as its operations from the risks of being involved into money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions evasion, or other financial crimes. We recommend establishing a strong compliance training program (even if it is not mandatory by applicable laws and regulations) to ensure your employees are familiar with legal and regulatory requirements and know their rights and reporting obligations. Such training should be conducted periodically to keep employees informed about recent developments.

Under the UAE anti-money laundering/combating financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) legal and regulatory framework, some companies are obliged to promptly report suspicious transactions and activities, when there are suspicions, or reasonable grounds to suspect, that the proceeds are related to the crime, or to the attempt or intention to use funds or proceeds for the purpose of committing, concealing, or benefitting from a crime.

InBusiness can help your company to implement internal policies, procedures, and controls in relation to the identification and immediate reporting of suspicious transactions, register in the GoAML portal, and, if necessary, submit STR/SAR to the Financial Intelligence Unit.

Failing (intentionally or by gross negligence) to make an STR/SAR is punishable by imprisonment and/or a fine of AED 100,000 to AED 1 million.

Abu Dhabi Global Market is a free zone having its own civil and commercial laws and regulatory body – the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA).

The companies licensed by the ADGM are subject to the specific requirements if providing services regulated by the FSRA.

InBusiness can assist you with providing ADGM-approved MLRO, specific trainings, risk assessments and other compliance-related matters.

Dubai International Financial centre is a free zone having its own civil and commercial laws and regulatory body – the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

Similar to the ADGM, InBussiness helps our clients to stay fully compliant with the DIFC laws and regulations.

Our experienced Data Protection Officer (DPO) will review the data protection framework applicable to your organisation, help you to understand the requirements, and advise on the measures to be taken to comply with regulations.

We can also provide an outsourced DPO who will be covering personal data protection matters within your company.

There are both civil and criminal penalties for failing to comply with AML compliance obligations in the UAE. For example, under Federal law, the Competent or Supervisory Authorities may impose administrative penalties on regulated entities in the UAE, including:

• a written warning.
• fines of between AED50,000 and AED5 million per violation;
• restrictions on working in the regulated sector;
• arresting managers, board members, or members of the executive or supervisory management of the entity who are found to be responsible
  for the failure to comply (this can include the appointment of a temporary controller);
• restricting the powers of board members or members of the executive or supervisory management of the entity; and
• revocation of an organisation's licence to practise.

Cabinet Resolution No. 16 of 2021 introduced 26 additional administrative penalties for supervised institutions, including a fine of AED200,000 for failure to provide additional information requested by the FIU and a fine of AED50,000 for a failure to provide training to employees on combatting ML and TF.

The UAE regulators have toughened rules and regulations surrounding AML. In October 2023 the Financial Services Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) imposed a penalty of USD 486,000 (AED 1,784,000) on a money service provider for not adhering to AML requirements.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (the FIU) established by the Central Bank of the UAE regulates and monitors entities that are most likely to be directly or indirectly affected by money laundering crimes. For this purpose, regulated entities are obliged to register in the goAML system and submit relevant suspicious transactions reports (STRs) through it.

Failure to register in the goAML can lead to license suspension and administrative penalties. As reported by the UAE’s Ministry of Economy in August 2023, it suspended 50 companies for 3 months for missing the established deadlines for goAML registration.