UAE banks must stop using compliance as a weapon.

The banking community must rethink its strategy on compliance. This over-indulgence with compliance is not going down well with customers. They must lay down the primary criteria for their due diligence before entering into any client relationship. They should make conscious efforts to ensure prospective clients are made aware of the requisite disclosures.

Bankers are keen to show that compliance is a priority; thus, they highlight it much more in filings than in actual reviews. It seems their zealousness is more for regulators as a tick-box exercise on the checklist than about disclosure and its merits.

The related documentation is cumbersome, and it appears more of a formality than an objective assessment. This activism is playing havoc in the minds of customers. There is a shroud of secrecy with no transparency on the process of compliance.

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