CMA Intensifies Anti Money Laundering and Combating Financing Terrorism Efforts

The Capital Market Authority focused its anti-money laundering and combating financing terrorism efforts in putting in place legislative and regulatory processes to protect the capital market and insurance institutions from any such criminal transactions within the national efforts under the umbrella of the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Financing Terrorism.

Majed Mohammed Al Kiyoumi, Director of the Anti -Money Laundering and Combating Financing Terrorism Department said the CMA has taken a number of steps in this regard pursuant to Royal Decree No. 30/2016 (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing Terrorism Law). It directed all the regulated entities to apply electronic payment methods as well as circulating reporting forms for suspected transactions issued by the National Centre for Financial Information to ease the reporting of any suspected money laundering or financing terrorism crimes. The Department also circulated the key observations noted and key defects detected during the audit and examination.

Al kiyoumi added that the CMA is aware that the first line of defense is the dissemination of awareness focusing on compliance officers of the companies. To this end, it organized 8 workshops on the risk based approach, enhanced due diligence, suspected transactions and reporting method in addition to a workshop on the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing Terrorism Law, targeted financial sanctions, cross border customers, financial payments as well as using social media platforms to spread awareness on such crimes and their economic and social impact.

Al Kiyoumi added that the Department analyzed the data related to 81 companies and prepared risk matrix to identify the companies exposed to high risk and developed an audit and examination plan based on the outcome of the analysis whereby a comprehensive audit was carried out for 13 companies, thematic audit for four companies and held meetings with 8 companies and issued compliance orders for 9 companies after the conclusion of the audit and examination process.

It is worth to note that countries and governments exert efforts to face this crime due to its economic impact on the national economic policies and for weakening the financial institutions and the GDP, threatening financing stability and the stability of the stock exchanges causing their likely collapse and escape of foreign capital to overseas banks, depletes the budgets of governments and expose them to international sanctions.