Investor Presentaiton
45
EMIRATES NBD
REVIEW OF
PERFORMANCE
ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Business Continuity Management
The Group has a robust business continuity management
framework in place that allows quick reaction to any
disruptive event to ensure continuity of operations.
Business continuity plans are reviewed and tested at
least annually across the Group, ensuring seamless
service to the Group's customers and partners during
any potential operational disruptions. Prior to COVID-19
being elevated to the status of pandemic, the Group had
already prepared a recovery strategy which
encompassed technology enhancements and business
processes. This ensured that most employees could
work remotely or operate safely with skeleton staff
where work from home was not possible (e.g., branch
operations). The Group has also established a modern
work area recovery site to provide all required facilities
to business and operational units in the event of regular
office units being inaccessible. Group Operational Risk
regularly conducts risk awareness programmes for all
Emirates NBD employees.
Group Compliance
Compliance risk can be defined as the risk of legal and/
or regulatory sanctions, fines and losses associated with
damage to the Group's reputation as a result of its
failure to comply with applicable laws, regulations,
policies or good practices. Group Compliance is
responsible for assisting the Group's senior management
in designing, implementing, delivering and supporting a
framework to ensure appropriate measures are in place
to mitigate these risks in all of the jurisdictions the
Group operates in.
Emirates NBD is primarily regulated by the Central Bank
of the UAE (CBUAE) and is required to comply with the
laws and regulations of the UAE as well as those of all
other jurisdictions that the Group operates in.
Emirates NBD aligns its policies and procedures with the
international industry practices followed by our
correspondent banks.
The Group maintains a good working relationship with
regulators and correspondent banks and continues to
proactively meet with its major correspondent banks to
discuss progress on key compliance-related initiatives.
All relevant regulatory and compliance matters are
regularly reported and discussed at the Group and
Board committee meetings.
Following on from the publication of the 2020 Financial
Action Task Force (FATF) Mutual Evaluation Report
(MER), we have continued to identify an increasing level
of Regulatory activity in the Financial Crime Compliance
space. This has included the issuances of a large number
of circulars, notices and guidance documents, and the
launching of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) at the
Dubai and Federal levels. The CBUAE has also increased
the level of thematic style reviews in addition to follow
up examinations as part of the new risk-based
supervision regime. This unprecedented level of
Regulatory activity coupled with an increased level of
Regulatory supervision and oversight is likely to continue
as the UAE awaits the outcome of FATF follow-up
process.
COVID-19 remains a major challenge. Compliance
functions across the Group quickly adapted to working
from home and when required had close to 100% of
staff working effectively under these circumstances with
no significant backlogs that may cause regulatory or
customer service issues. Compliance staff have
progressively returned to the office throughout 2021.
Despite these significant challenges, the function
continued to enhance its compliance framework and
infrastructure including policies, procedures, training,
systems, controls and assurance processes. Some of the
key initiatives undertaken by Group Compliance during
the year included:
1. Continued progress on the Group Compliance
Systems implementation, with a focus on the rollout
and update of strategic compliance screening and
monitoring systems during a period of continued IT
transformation. This also included Compliance
support to the Group's Straight Through Processing
(STP) and Digital initiatives.
2. Continued improvements and enhancements to the
Group's mandatory training programme with
updates to AML and Sanctions, providing a greater
depth of knowledge for employees.
3. The implementation of updates to the Group
Compliance Breaches Policy, Regulatory
Communications Policy, Personal Account Dealing
Policy, FATCA and CRS Policy and the Group
Compliance Charter.
atm
بنك الإمارات دبي الوطني Emirates NBD
مثل العم
Emirates NBD expands its presence in KSA
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