The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has published a Thematic Review assessing how firms in the insurance sector in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) comply with Targeted Financial Sanctions (TFS) obligations.

The review examined insurance and reinsurance firms, focusing on screening practices, governance and oversight, notifications, record keeping, training, and independent reviews. While most firms demonstrated a commitment to compliance, the DFSA identified areas requiring further strengthening to align with UAE laws and DFSA expectations. 

While the findings were broadly positive, with most areas identified for improvement being in the documented control frameworks rather than the practical application of screening controls, there were areas requiring enhancements. These include:

• enhancing Business and Customer Risk Assessments to explicitly document jurisdiction risk factors and the underlying insured risk;
• ensuring that policies and procedures and related training material, explicitly reference all the UAE TFS obligations;
• considering more granular Management Information to capture data on screening control and alert handling performance beyond exception reporting; and
• ensuring that gap analyses are completed and adequately documented.

Firms are encouraged to review their internal controls against the DFSA’s findings to ensure effective and ongoing compliance with TFS obligations.  

Read the full Thematic Review here.