Established in London in June 1972, BACB is a wholesale bank and a leading provider of trade and project finance for Arab markets.
Based in the City of London, the bank's largest single shareholder is HSBC Bank Middle East, a principal member of the HSBC Group. BACB's other shareholders comprise central and state-owned commercial banks from the Arab world.
On 2 June 2009 the Bank changed its corporate status from that of a private to a public company.
BACB is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the UK’s sole financial services regulator under the terms of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
In the UK, banks are not issued with a single licence document. Instead, the FSA grant permission to undertake specific activities, for example, deposit taking.
Details of BACB’s permissions and regulatory status can be obtained by visiting the FSA website at www.fsa.gov.uk and searching the FSA Register using BACB’s reference number 204564.
Money Laundering Prevention Law in the UK
The UK is a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the necessary legal framework is in place to implement FATF recommendations for the prevention of money laundering. As a EU member, the UK has also implemented all relevant EU directives.
Key elements of UK law are as follows:
• The laundering of the proceeds of all crime is illegal;
• Laws are in place prohibiting involvement with and the financing of terrorism;
• Banks are obliged to establish the true identity of all customers, keep copies of identification documents and maintain transaction records for at least 5 years after a customer relationship ceases;
• For companies and other non personal entities, banks are required to establish ultimate beneficial ownership;
• Firms are required to appoint a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) to act as a focal point for money laundering prevention and to receive Suspicious Activity Reports from staff;
• Financial sector employees are required to report knowledge or suspicion of money laundering or terrorism to the firm’s MLRO, who in turn has an obligation to consider such reports and, if validated, pass them to a central
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