UAE’s fight against financial crime in focus at Mena Regulatory Summit

Up to 450 delegates from the compliance, risk, regulation and financial services sectors are expected to attend

Hamid Al Zaabi, director general of the Executive Office of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing. Photo: Executive Office of AML/CTF

The latest developments in the UAE’s fight against financial crime are set to be discussed at the 14th Mena Regulatory Summit in Abu Dhabi.

The event, which takes place on Tuesday at the Four Seasons Hotel, is being hosted by the Executive Office of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing, in partnership with Refinitiv.

It caters to professionals working in compliance, risk, regulation and financial services, as well as their counterparts in government and law enforcement.

As many as 450 delegates will attend, with large numbers coming from the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Bahrain, the organisers said on Monday.

Panel sessions will feature leading figures from international organisations on the front line of the fight against financial crime, including John Cusack, chairman of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime, Suliman Al-Jabrin, Mena Financial Action Task Force (FATF) executive secretary, and Takahide Habuchi of the Japan Financial Service and FATF Policy Working Group.

"International co-operation is crucially important in our efforts to fight financial crime, and the UAE has continued to make substantial progress in this regard through the signing of new joint training and research initiatives and the sharing of knowledge, such as typologies specific to the region," said Hamid Al Zaabi, director general of the Executive Office of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing.

"We look forward to sharing our experience and building new relationships at the summit. Delegates from the UAE and across the region can look forward to a strong and topical agenda."

The UAE has seized and confiscated assets worth more than Dh4.73 billion ($1.29bn) in the 12 months to the end of July as it steps up its fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Assets worth Dh2.54bn were seized by authorities while assets worth Dh2.19bn were confiscated in the one-year period, Mr Al Zaabi told The National in an interview earlier this month.