Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of the UAE Banks Federation, UBF, a professional representative body comprising 48 member banks operating in the UAE, has hosted the US Treasury Secretary, Steven T. Mnuchin, at a dinner meeting held in Abu Dhabi.

During the meeting, which was also attended by the US Ambassador to the UAE, Barbara A. Leaf, and other delegates from both the US Department of the Treasury and the US Embassy, discussions between the parties emphasised the strong bilateral ties between the UAE and the United States.

Headed by the US Treasury Secretary, the American delegation included Sigal Mandelker, Under-Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence; Eli Miller, Chief of Staff of the US Department of the Treasury; Julie Mills, Senior Advisor to the Under-Secretary; William Rich, Treasury Attache.

Al Ghurair highlighted the various initiatives undertaken by the UBF to assist the UAE banking industry. One of the key accomplishments in collaboration with the Central Bank of UAE was the setting up of industry guidelines for the "Independent Assessment of AML and Sanctions Compliance Framework" for banks in the UAE, which was also instrumental in formulating a white paper on "Exchange Company Framework and Controls".

The UBF Chairman also explained the Federation's "Information Sharing and Analysis Centre" initiative, dedicated to aggregating, analysing and sharing cyber-threat intelligence from multiple sources in real-time, to support defensive actions to protect the UAE banking landscape. He stressed the importance of this platform in enhancing abilities to respond effectively to the growing scope of such threats and showcasing the value of meaningful collaboration among banks to mitigate such risks. "This platform will also be extended shortly to include fraud trends," he said.

Such measures will help promote international confidence in the UAE banking sector and facilitate multi-lateral dialogue between respective regulators and agencies to curtail the adverse effects of "De-Risking" as experienced through recent trends, thereby enabling legitimate business to proceed without hindrance through the appropriate restoration of US dollar clearing abilities for member banks.