Dubai authority slaps Dh11.1 million fine on Mirabaud bank

The bank Mirabaud Limited was fined $3.02 million (Dh11.1 million) by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) on Tuesday (August 1). According to the DFSA, Mirabaud was fined for having insufficient anti-money laundering systems and controls between June 2018 and October 2021. The penalty comprises the disgorgement of $975,000 (Dh3.58 million), which represents Mirabaud's financial gain from its violations in the form of fees and commission. Mirabaud agreed to settle the case, which resulted in a decrease in the fine from $3.9 million (Dh14.32 million). According to the DFSA, they discovered gaps in Mirabaud's AML procedures and controls that allowed it to conduct transactions for a collection of nine connected customer accounts handled by the same relationship manager, which raised several questions about potential money laundering. The relevant customer accounts' activity displayed traits that are frequently observed at the layering stage of a money laundering scheme. Mirabaud's activities exposed serious flaws in their systems and controls and provided crucial signs of possible money laundering that they should have recognized and addressed. In a statement, the DFSA said that it also discovered that Mirabaud had not gathered the necessary proof of the clients' financial market experience, which was required for the clients to be categorized as Professional Clients. The DFSA identified a number of clients whose claimed experience with financial markets was based only on an undocumented assessment of the client's experience by the relationship manager trying to onboard the client; the same or similar justifications for why customers couldn't provide evidence of their experience were repeatedly used, raising doubts about the credibility of the clients. Ian Johnston, Chief Executive of the DFSA said, “By failing to ensure that its AML systems and controls were effective, Mirabaud did not recognise clear indicators of potential money laundering or take the appropriate action when it had concerns about customers’ activity. The level of penalty imposed on Mirabaud reflects the importance of AML compliance in maintaining confidence in the integrity of the DIFC." JG/Expat Media
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