In a news piece on Oman News agency, the Board of governors of the Central Bank of Oman, held their third meeting for 2023 where the followed up on developments as well as reviewed the international stance on cryptocurrencies as well as related studies conducted by the executive management team at the central bank on cryptocurrencies. This comes as Oman works on its virtual asset regulations, having   at the end of July 2023 announced a public consultation paper on virtual assets regulatory framework by the Oman Capital Market Auhtority. The Capital Market Authority, Sultanate of Oman (CMA), which regulates and develops Oman's financial markets for the capital market and insurance sectors, had earlier announced its plans to establish the new regulatory framework for Virtual Assets (VA) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP). The proposed new regulatory framework is envisaged to cover activities such as crypto assets, tokens, crypto exchanges, and initial...

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) in a press release announced that it has issued a new guidance on anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) for Licensed Financial Institutions (LFIs),  banks, finance companies, exchange houses, payment service providers, registered hawala providers and insurance companies, agents and brokers as well as setting clear descriptions of virtual assets and Virtual asset service providers business models.  His Excellency Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, stated, “The new guidance related to the virtual assets sector contribute to strengthening the supervisory and regulatory frameworks of the Central Bank to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. We are constantly working to enhance efforts and strengthen the awareness of licensed financial institutions to prevent all kinds of financial crime activities, and reduce potential risks to protect the financial and monetary system and maintai...

  During the recent MENA FATF (Financial Action Task Force) regional body’s workshop attendees adopted several recommendation proposes by Abu Dhabi including those pertaining to virtual assets, in the fight against money laundering, and terrorism. The Abu Dhabi recommendations consist of 24 best practice commitments made by MENAFATF member states for enhancing regional efforts to counter money laundering and financing of terrorism. The recommendations were agreed at the closing of the MENAFATF Typologies and Capacity Building Workshop held between 6-8 March 2023 under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Chairman of the Higher Committee Overseeing the National Strategy on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism, and hosted by the UAE Executive Office of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (EO AML/CTF) in Abu Dhabi. Of the 24 recommendation five pertained to virtual assets. The fir...

  UAE based VAF Compliance, a virtual assets and fintech compliance firm has launched a telegram bot service that assesses the risks associated with accepting cryptocurrency as payment. VAF Compliance's Telegram Bot can help individual clients and small businesses avoid situations where they may unknowingly accept tainted funds. With this service, VAF Compliance aims to democratize access to AML solutions to all users, who now can assess risks before accepting crypto, receive a clear and user-friendly report, understand the risks associated with interacting with other wallets, and prevent the receipt of crypto with criminal origins.Crypto exchanges, the entry point to cryptocurrencies, are particularly vulnerable to compliance issues. To maintain compliance, the implementation of robust Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies is essential. While recent sanctions against entities providing money laundering services to criminals have had a positive impac...

  On February 24 th 2023 FAFT released its latest grey and black list. For those who are on the grey list it means that these jurisdictions are under increased monitoring and are actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. As per the recent announcement by FATF, “When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring. This list is often externally referred to as the “grey list”.” Of the Arab countries on the grey list, was Jordan. It was on the list because of risks in virtual assets. As per FATF one of the reasons for it being on the list was because it needed to address strategic deficiencies including “completing and disseminating the money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessments of l...