UAE probes Pakistan bank for financing terrorism, money laundering
The Central Bank of the UAE is investigating the
largest bank in Pakistan to determine whether it has violated laws prohibiting
money laundering and financing terrorism.
The UAE Central Bank (CBUAE) said in a statement on
Wednesday that it was “in contact” with the Pakistan banking regulator to
verify possible violations regarding a Pakistani bank operating in the UAE.
A spokesman for CBUAE told Reuters that the
statement refers to Habib Bank Ltd (HBL), the largest bank in Pakistan.
CBUAE added in the statement that it will take
“appropriate regulatory action once we have verified the findings reported in
the media to confirm if there was any violation to UAE’s Anti-Money Laundering
and Combat of Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and procedures”.
Bloomberg revealed last week that in 2018 Pakistan
banking regulators found irregularities in HBL’s UAE operations and dealings
with politically exposed clients.
The investigation comes at a time when a Paris unit
of the Financial Action Task Force, a global financial watchdog, is
investigating Pakistan for not adequately complying with global regulations on
money laundering and terrorism financing.
