News

Abu Dhabi: Company Fined for Violating Anti-Money Laundering Laws

Mubasher, 30 August 2022: The ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority has imposed a fine of 1.3 million AED on Wise Nuqud Ltd (WISE), for violating a number of anti-money laundering requirements.

The Authority found that WISE had not maintained adequate anti-money laundering controls to ensure full compliance with their anti-money laundering obligations.

It was stated that WISE did not verify the source of their funds as part of the enhanced customer due diligence it conducted on a category of clients that were identified as high-risk before undertaking transactions on behalf of these clients. Instead, WISE carried out verification of the source of funds and sources of wealth for these clients when their accounts had met the specified payment threshold.

WISE was required to identify and verify the source of funds (SOF) and the source of wealth (SOW), as part of the Enhanced Customer Due Diligence (EDD) it performed on a category of customers it had identified as high-risk before undertaking transactions on behalf of those customers. Instead, they carried out SOF and SOW checks on those customers only when their account met a specified payment threshold (and after they had already established a business relationship with them).

The firm had also not correctly obtained Senior Management’s approval to establish business relationships with a category of customers that it had identified as high-risk.

The FSRA’s review did not identify any instances of actual money laundering resulting from Wise’s AML systems and control failures. In addition, WISE and its senior management cooperated fully with the FSRA’s enquiries and undertook substantial steps to remediate the issues identified by the FSRA.

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UAE: New SME/Start Up Loan Scheme

Khaleej Times, 29 August 2022: The Emirates Development Bank has announced a new scheme which will allow SMEs and start-ups to apply for loans of up to 5 million AED directly through their Digital Banking App and receive approval or feedback within five days.

The service, is being carried out in partnership with the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform Beehive. The service will be available for UAE-based SMEs and start-ups operating in one of the development bank’s five priority sectors. These are manufacturing, healthcare, food security, advanced technology, and infrastructure. These loans will be available on various tenors of up to 60 month.

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Dubai: New Inheritance Court to Open in September

The National, 25 August 2022: A new court dealing with inheritance disputes involving Muslims and non-Muslims of all nationalities will open in Dubai in September 2022.

The news was announced at the Dubai Court of Personal Status.

Claims can be registered online and will first be seen by a preparatory judge who will revise them and attempt to bring an amicable settlement.

Documents not in Arabic must be translated by a legal translation office approved by the Ministry of Justice before being uploaded into the court’s online system.

Suppose the dispute involves a combination of civil, real estate or commercial disputes from one inheritance claim. In that case, the judge will register each as a separate case with different reference numbers. Within 30 days of the registration date, all cases, and the legal opinion of the preparatory judge, will then be referred to a panel of three judges who will make a decision.

The court will have two judicial circuits of three judges each, and each panel will include a judge from the court of the first instance, another from the appeals court and a third from the court of cessation. Some cases, however, may take longer than a year to decide due to the amount of money or assets being disputed.

The court will settle disputes related to wills, inventory lists, liquidation of the estate, division of funds among heirs, expulsion and entry of an heir, and civil, real estate or commercial cases that might arise from an inheritance claim or any other incidental requests.

Judgments by the court will be final and will not be subject to appeal except through a petition for reconsideration.

Before going to court, all debts must have been paid and all wills enacted.

First, the case will be registered at the Dubai Court of Personal Status, and the court will suggest a settlement. If the settlement is not agreed on, the case will be referred to the Court of Inheritance.

A preparatory judge will then revise the claim, trace cash and assets, ensure debts have been paid, handle legal correspondence and register any other cases that may arise from the original inheritance case.

The case is then referred to a panel of judges at the Court of Inheritance.

Settlement is suggested again, but if it is not agreed on, the Court of inheritance will have a hearing, after which a final judgment will be issued.

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