Central Bank of the UAE Guidance for Licensed Financial Institutions on Correspondent Banking and Expectations for Managing Correspondent Banking Relationships

October, 2025.

Contents

1. Introduction ... 4 1.1. Purpose of the Guidance ... 4 1.2. Applicability ... 5 1.3. Legal Basis ... 5 1.4. Acronyms and Definitions ... 6
2. Understanding Correspondent Banking ... 8
3. Cross-Border Payments ... 11 3.1. Funds Transfer Requirements and the Role of Financial Institutions Processing Cross-Border Funds Transfers ... 13
4. Policy and Procedures ... 15
5. Correspondent Banking Risk Factors ... 15 5.1. Respondent Institution’s Third-Party Transaction Risk ... 16 5.1.1. Nested Relationships ... 16 5.1.2. Payable-through Accounts ... 18 5.2. Respondent Institution’s Geographic Risk ... 19 5.3. Respondent Institution’s Ownership and Management Structures ... 20 5.4. Respondent Institution’s Products and Services ... 21 5.5. Respondent Institution’s Customer Base ... 21
6. Risk Mitigation ... 22 6.1. Enterprise-wide ML/TF/PF Risk Assessment and Correspondent Banking Risk Assessment ... 23 6.2. Standard Customer Due Diligence ... 24 6.3. Specific Due Diligence for Correspondent Banking Relationships ... 25 6.4...