UAE AML fines on DNFBPs: every Ministry of Economy announcement
The Ministry of Economy and Tourism supervises real estate brokers, dealers in precious metals and stones, auditors and company service providers on the mainland and in commercial free zones, and publishes its enforcement results. This page collects every announcement we could find, with the figures as the Ministry gave them and a link to each release.
7 announcements, 10 July 2022 to 24 July 2025. List last checked for new releases on 23 September 2026.
Latest period
First half of 2025
Fines
More than AED 42 million
What firms were fined for
The releases name the failings behind the fines. The same ones come back again and again:
Every announcement
24 July 2025 · First half of 2025
- Violations:
- 1,063
- Fines:
- More than AED 42 million
- Precious metals and stones: 473 violations, AED 20 million
- Real estate: 495 violations, AED 18.5 million
- Company service providers and auditors: 95 violations, More than AED 4 million (Reported together as 95 penalties.)
Failings named: Customer due diligence; Risk assessment methodology; Suspicious transaction reporting.
Law cited: Anti-money laundering legislation (not named in the release)
21 August 2023 · Third quarter of 2023
- Action:
- 50 establishments suspended for three months, until they register on goAML
Failings named: Not registered on goAML.
Law cited: Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018
31 May 2023 · First quarter of 2023
- Inspected:
- 840 companies
- Fined:
- 137 companies
- Violations:
- 831
- Fines:
- AED 65.9 million
- Precious metals and stones: 66 companies, AED 37.5 million (57% of the fines.)
- Real estate: 40 companies, AED 16.5 million (25% of the violations.)
- Company service providers: 20 companies, Printed as AED 806 million (As printed; it cannot be right for a quarter whose total was AED 65.9 million.)
- Auditors: 12 companies, AED 3.3 million
Failings named: No suspicious transaction report when due diligence raised one (44 companies; the fine is printed as AED 808 million, which cannot be right); Crime risks not identified; Customer databases and transactions not checked against the terrorism lists; Customer and beneficial owner identity not verified.
Note: The sector figures add up to 138 companies against the 137 in the headline, and two fines are printed in hundreds of millions within a total of AED 65.9 million. The figures are shown as the release gives them.
Law cited: Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018
24 March 2023
- Fined:
- 29 companies
- Violations:
- 225
- Fines:
- AED 22.6 million
- Precious metals and stones: 17 companies
- Company service providers: 4 companies
- Auditors: 2 companies
Failings named: Crime risks not identified; No policies to check customers and transactions against the terrorism list (Cabinet Decision No. 74 of 2020).
Law cited: Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018
21 December 2022
- Fined:
- 6 companies
- Violations:
- 59
- Fines:
- AED 3.2 million
Failings named: No AML policies and procedures; Crime risks not identified; Suspicious business relationship; Politically exposed persons not handled.
Law cited: Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018
4 November 2022
- Fined:
- 3 companies
- Violations:
- 32
- Fines:
- AED 2.25 million
- Precious metals and stones: 2 companies
- Real estate: 1 companies
Failings named: Breaches of the AML law and its executive regulation (not itemised).
Law cited: Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018
10 July 2022
- Fined:
- 8 companies
- Violations:
- 69
- Fines:
- AED 3,550,000
Failings named: Internal AML policies and controls not followed; Suspicious business relationships; Crime risks not limited; Suspicious transactions not monitored or reported.
Law cited: Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018
Reading these figures
- The releases are not added together here. A quarterly total can include fines already announced in that quarter, and the releases do not say which.
- Releases before October 2025 cite Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018, the law then in force. It was replaced on 14 October 2025 by Federal Decree-Law No. 10 of 2025, under which administrative fines run from AED 10,000 to AED 5,000,000 per violation. The fine for each specific breach comes from the list annexed to Cabinet Resolution No. 71 of 2024, which is still in force: AED 50,000 to AED 1,000,000 depending on the violation. What the 2025 law changed.
- Only the Ministry of Economy and Tourism's own announcements are included. Lawyers answer to the Ministry of Justice, gaming operators to the GCGRA, and firms in the DIFC and ADGM to those centres' regulators.
Would your firm pass an inspection?
AML Compass checks a firm against the duties these fines were for, for its sector and jurisdiction, and lists the gaps with the provision behind each one.
Figures are copied from the Ministry's releases, linked above, and archived with this project. Where a release omits a figure it is left out, and where one cannot be right it is shown as printed with a note. Found a release that is missing? Write to support@amlcompass.io. How this site is researched.