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UAE fines foreign bank Dh1.82 million over liability letter delay

CBUAE says the branch failed to issue a liability letter within seven days

Last updated: July 06, 2026 | 10:44

Nivetha Dayanand, Assistant Business Editor

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UAE Central Bank penalises foreign lender for breaching seven-day liability rule

WAM

Abu Dhabi: The Central Bank of the UAE has imposed a financial sanction of Dh1.82 million on a branch of a foreign bank licensed to operate in the country.

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The regulator said the penalty was issued under Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 regarding the Central Bank, regulation of financial institutions and activities, and insurance business.

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Liability letter delay

The sanction followed examinations conducted by the CBUAE, which found that the branch failed to issue a liability letter within the mandated seven-day period.

The Central Bank said the delay violated its Market Conduct and Consumer Protection Regulations and Standards.

A liability letter is commonly required by customers when moving loans, settling liabilities or transferring banking arrangements, making timely issuance important for consumer access and banking transparency.

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Consumer protection focus

The CBUAE said the action falls within its supervisory and regulatory mandate to ensure banks, their leadership and employees comply with UAE laws and the standards set by the regulator.

The Central Bank said these rules are intended to safeguard transparency and integrity across the banking sector and the wider UAE financial system.

The regulator did not name the foreign bank branch in its statement.

Nivetha DayanandAssistant Business Editor

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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