UAE central bank wins top award for its performance

The banking regulator had unveiled a number of new initiatives to support the UAE’s financial sector

The Central Bank of the UAE extended support measures aimed at helping lenders mitigate the effects of the pandemic by six months until mid-2022. Ryan Carter / The National

The Central Bank of the UAE has won a top federal entity award for best performance improvement in the sixth cycle of the Mohammed bin Rashid Government Excellence Award, under the umbrella of the Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Programme.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, honoured the winners at a ceremony at Expo 2020 Dubai, the banking regulator said on Friday.

“Obtaining this award reflects firm evidence of the CBUAE role and efforts in developing its business and services in line with best practices, raising performance levels and strengthening systems that serve the interest of the public in the financial and insurance sector,” the CBUAE said.

The banking regulator has unveiled a number of new initiatives in the past few months to support the country’s financial sector.

These include rolling out an enhanced regulatory framework to supervise banks’ exposure to the real estate sector and issuing guidelines to help licensed exchange houses combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

It also signed a bilateral currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of Turkey to strengthen economic ties between the UAE and Turkey.

The CBUAE also extended support measures aimed at helping lenders mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic by six months until mid-2022, to back the country's continued economic recovery.

Relief measures related to banks' capital buffers, liquidity and stable funding requirements will be extended until June 30 for all lenders operating in the UAE, the banking regulator said in December. The measures are part of the targeted economic support scheme programme it introduced at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

“The Mohammed bin Rashid Government Excellence Award represents a catalyst for the development of government entities in numerous fields,” Khaled Balama, governor of the CBUAE, said.

“Obtaining this award is a great achievement, which will enhance our role in advancing excellence and commitment to continue the transformation journey for further successes in line with the leadership aspirations to be among the leading central banks globally.”