The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is composed of 7 Emirates, 2 financial free zones and 29 commercial free zones.

In February 2024, the UAE was officially removed from the FATF “Grey List”. In its statement, the FATF welcomed the UAE’s “significant progress in improving its AML/CFT regime”.

The country had previously been listed in October 2023 as one of the jurisdictions under increased monitoring, meaning it had strategic deficiencies in its regime to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.

From 2023 to 2024, the country actively worked with the FATF and with the support of the EU Global Facility, as well as other actors, to address these strategic deficiencies.

The training and activities conducted by the EU Global Facility on AML/CFT aimed to support the UAE in their efforts to rectify any potential strategic deficiencies in its national anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework. as defined under the Fourth and Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directives.

As of February 2024, the UAE will continue to work with MENAFATF to sustain its improvements in its AML/CFT system.