K hold joint conference on financial crimes

ABU DHABI, 26th September 2016 (WAM) - The Central Bank of the UAE announced today that a Joint Conference between the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom was held on 20th and 21st September on "Financial Crime & Recovery of the Proceeds of Crime" at the Central Bank in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The Conference was organised by the Anti-Money Laundering and Suspicious Cases Unit (AMLSCU) of the Central Bank of the UAE and the Home Office, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) & the National Crime Agency (NCA) from the United Kingdom.

This Conference was held as a follow-up to the joint workshop held in Dubai in May 2012 between the UAE and the United Kingdom relevant bodies to exchange and share experiences.

The Conference was attended by 200 officials from UAE Federal and Local Government entities, including the Judiciary, the Public Prosecution, Law Enforcement, Customs, the Securities and Commodities Authority, the Insurance Authority, the Ministry of Finance, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, the Economic Development Departments, the Central Bank of the UAE, representatives from the UAE Banks Federation and banks operating in the UAE, besides delegates from the United Kingdom's Home Office, the Crown Prosecution Service, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, Her Majesty's Treasury, the National Crime Agency and the Scottish Government and the British Embassy in the UAE.

Mubarak Rashed Al Mansoori, Governor of Central Bank of the UAE and Chairman of the National Anti-Money Laundering & Combating Financing of Terrorism Committee (NAMLCFTC), inaugurated the Conference in the presence of Mark Sedwill CMG, Permanent Secretary at the UK Home Office.

In his speech, the Governor, after welcoming the participants, emphasised the need for enhanced cooperation among the concerned stakeholders in the two countries as the key to increase the recovery of proceeds of crime.

Mark Sedwill also addressed the conference, remarking that holding this joint conference is a reflection of the commitment between the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom to trace and recover proceeds of crime by aligning objectives, tools and resources in this regard and also provided an overview of the UK action plan on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism.

He highlighted the overlap between money laundering and terrorist financing and outlined the importance of public private information sharing, pointing at the successes of the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT) which has helped improve the UK response to money laundering.

The Conference was spread over two days, where experts from the UAE and the United Kingdom gave presentations related to the theme of the conference and ended with the resolve to continue this ongoing series of conferences.

The Conference emphasised the need for continued cooperation between the UAE and the United Kingdom to prevent criminals from benefitting from their crimes, in line with international initiatives in this regard.