Close look at cash deals

Bahrain is playing a leading role in the Gulf Co-operation Council’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and views the fight against money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism as a key priority.

The kingdom is also a founding member of the regional Middle East and North Africa -FATF, and hosts its secretariat.

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) maintains a Compliance Directorate, which leads on the government agency’s efforts to ensure effective compliance with relevant standards and to preserve Bahrain’s strong reputation as a well-regulated financial centre.

While Abdul Rahman M Al Baker, the CBB’s executive director - financial institutions supervision, did not put a number to the cash amount that will be accepted without question, he said that individuals and organisations will be in the clear as long as they provide proper documents supporting the source of funds.

He said: “I cannot provide a specific amount ... I leave it to the people in the sector to look at it more closely. You need to understand who your client is and if he is eligible to do those transactions. They have to have evidence of his means.”

Mr Al Baker said that briefings were part of ‘reiterating the rules and regulations’ governing financial transactions in the kingdom.

Bahrain’s anti-money laundering committee with members from various ministries has been in existence since the establishment of the law in 2001.

He added: “It has gone through several changes but there is very good co-operation between the members.
 
“International Monetary Fund has evaluated the programme and Bahrain is ranked highly for its standard of compliance.

“This has a direct relationship to Foreign Direct Investment that we attract as international organisations take this into consideration before setting up operations here.

“We are proud to say that we are not on any blacklist because of our good compliance record and it is an achievement.

“Today all financial institutions have an officer who is responsible to ensure that transactions are in line with the requirements. This is in place not only in banking but other financial services sector like insurance and capital market. All these members are a major part in the success story of Bahrain.”

Concern has been raised globally about cash transactions in the Middle East which may have links with organised crime involving drugs and human trafficking as well as terrorism.