UAE Compliance Documentation

Financial services regulation is constantly evolving and its application to senior management, staff and your organisation’s group companies and affiliates should be readily accessible and kept up to date.

A well-built compliance manual will not only demonstrate a thorough understanding of your regulatory compliance obligations, it will also provide your staff with details of your compliance procedures, internal requirements, systems and the tools available to manage compliance risk.

Our consultants will work with you to build a comprehensive, easy-to-use and tailored compliance manual that works in conjunction with your group policies and that meets the precise needs of your business to act as a powerful reference tool for your compliance team and wider staff.

Compliance with sanctions and money laundering and terrorist financing regulations continues to be a significant challenge for the regulated community. Businesses must be able to demonstrate that their systems, procedures and internal controls are robust enough to prevent them from being used for illegal purposes. Regulators across the globe implement Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) regulations to a differing extent and you will be expected to demonstrate policies and procedures that are tailored to local requirements.

Our team can prepare an AML and CTF manual that is tailored to you, setting out in appropriate detail, your procedures and other arrangements for complying with the local regulator’s requirements in your day-to-day operations.

Our manuals are accompanied by supporting procedures that are reflective of the size, nature and scope of your business activities. This includes:

• a client fact sheet, adaptable to your clients’ changing circumstances
• an easy-to-use tool for AML/CTF reviews in the event of ‘trigger’ events or on a regular Know Your Customer review cycle.

The collapse of once reputable and respected corporates and institutions can often be attributed to weak governance or compliance arrangements that promoted inappropriate culture and risk-taking behaviour. In order to help protect your organisation, we will work with you to develop a corporate governance manual and, if needed, any related procedures that will represent and inform your compliance culture across the business. A good corporate governance framework begins with understanding exactly where your business is exposed to risk and then builds policies and procedures to mitigate any financial, legal and reputational harm. This may include:

• clearly setting out your shareholder’s expectations regarding conduct
• the roles and responsibilities of your board members
• any committees required to provide independent oversight of the board
• the risk management arrangements you have in place such as management, systems and controls
• clear remuneration policies and reward structures
• transparent reporting and disclosure requirements.

Together, this will provide your stakeholders with the assurance that your activities are conducted in their best interests. Our Corporate Governance Manuals are designed to describe our client’s specific oversight arrangements and embed these local arrangements within a broader group structure, where applicable.

While your compliance framework will provide your management team and employees with information on your regulatory obligations, your operating procedures and guidelines assist in achieving the goals set out in your business plan.

Operating procedures should lay out the practical steps for the conduct of licensed financial services activities while ensuring adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, as well as your policies, procedures, systems and controls.

Depending on the scope of your licence, the procedures may cover:

• client acceptance and onboarding
• transaction processing, such as order receipt, transmission, amendment, cancellation and confirmation
• customer service
• complaints handling procedures
• day-to-day procedures for monitoring adherence to relevant policies.

A written code of conduct sets out your organisation’s mission, vision and values and demonstrates to your regulators and shareholders that your business is managing conduct risk from the top down. The code of conduct should set out your expectations for the legal and ethical behaviour of all of your employees and senior management.

Our team of consultants can work with you to develop a concise and easy to understand statement of your expectations including:

• the personal conduct of your staff, for example, honesty, truthfulness and integrity
• compliance with laws, regulations and policies
• how you manage communications with your clients, including:
  • keeping client information confidential
  • providing accurate and truthful reports
  • managing conflicts of interest and avoiding market abuse
• inter-personal conduct between your staff including:
  • establishing a culture of respect and non-discrimination
  • providing a means for whistleblowing.

Risk management is an essential component of the overall corporate governance and internal control structure of an institution. Regulators expect all regulated entities to maintain an enterprise-wide risk management process appropriate to the nature of the business undertaken. That process will be more stringent for institutions taking deposits or trading than it would be for those that are providing advice or arranging transactions.

Whatever the level of risk you are exposed to, you must ensure you have in place a risk management framework that covers the following areas:

• the ‘tone from the top’, for example, the active involvement of the board in the risk management process, including setting your risk appetite
• an appropriate risk management infrastructure, reflecting clarity of responsibility and accountability, together with independent oversight of the risk management framework, all to be supported by documented procedures
• identification of all risks relevant to your organisation
• assessment of the potential impact of each identified risk and an estimate of the likelihood of occurrence of such risk
• controls to manage or mitigate those risks
• testing of controls to ensure operational efficiency and remediating or enhancing the control environment when deficiencies are identified
• reporting to senior management and the board.