For failure to regularize their status during a specified grace period, licenses of seven currency exchange houses in the United Arab Emirates were downgraded by the UAE Central Bank Monday, reported Khaleej Times.
The seven companies which were downgraded include:
- Taher Exchange Est
- Al Hadha Exchange
- Al Hemriya Exchange
- Dubai Express Exchange
- Sanaa Exchange
- Cosmos Exchange
- Bin Bakheet Exchange Est.
“The above exchange houses were prohibited from conducting any activities relating to remittances or payment of wages. This decision comes after the failure of these exchange houses to regularise their status during the grace period granted by the Central Bank,” the Central Bank said in a statement on Monday.
Such shops have also violated anti-money laundering operations, the Central Bank said. It further advised UAE residents to avoid using these financial channels when sending money or engage with them to handle payment of wages.
For now, the affected companies can now only deal in sale and purchase of foreign currencies and travellers cheques only.
Outflow of remittances is expected to pick up substantially with the approaching Eid Al Fitr. In 2017, expat remittances amounted to AED164.3 billion as compared to AED160.8 billion in the previous year, an increase of 2.2 per cent.
