The United Arab Emirates distances itself from Russia: banks clean up their customer base

This was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.

“In July this year, financial institutions in the United Arab Emirates tightened control over the activities of Russian companies. About 30% of companies from the Russian Federation received notifications of restrictions on financial transactions or the closure of bank accounts,” the report said.

The main reasons for their closure were the absence or late response to requests from banks, errors in documents, inconsistencies between financial flows and declared activities, and links to countries on the FATF blacklist or to individuals/entities subject to international sanctions.

According to intelligence reports, thorough checks began in February 2024, after the UK imposed sanctions on UAE companies that helped circumvent sanctions against Russia.

The situation gained momentum after the adoption of the 18th package of EU sanctions, which for the first time included Emirati entities linked to Russia.

As noted by the SBU, Emirati financial institutions do not want to be blacklisted by the FATF again because of Russia, so they are showing their willingness to comply with the global sanctions regime.

Source: Ukrinform