Dubai: Banks in the UAE will need to work closely with the regulator towards “full compliance” on the Consumer Protection Regulations and Standards.
Doing so will raise consumer trust in the banking sector, the UAE Central Bank said in a statement following a meeting that included Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama, senior officials as well as CEOs of national and foreign banks operating in the country.
"The banks will be expected to contribute significantly to our nation’s far-reaching and ambitious agenda, and to become leaders not only in the region, but also in the global financial industry," said Balama. "Expectations on the role of the banking sector will increase further."
The meeting also reviewed the updated Central Bank supervisory and consumer protection measures, including new standards to enhance oversight of banks’ real estate financing exposures and changes to the CBUAE’s risk-based supervisory dashboard. The latter covers bank governance, bank business models and market conduct among its criteria.
In these two years, the UAE banking sector demonstrated its resilience during the pandemic, aided by the CBUAE’s Targeted Economic Support Scheme (TESS). Bank CEOs welcomed the ongoing support of the UAE financial system through the TESS, and noted that the banking sector maintains adequate capacity to support economic recovery.
