The Central Bank of the UAE has initiated a special and urgent examination of the five UAE-based branches of Banque Misr. This follows an August 28 notice from the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which proposed a rule to prohibit US financial institutions from maintaining correspondent banking accounts for the bank’s UAE operations. FinCEN designated Banque Misr UAE as a primary money laundering concern, alleging that between January 2024 and June 2026, the branch processed approximately $1.8 billion in transactions for 103 companies linked to potential Iranian shadow-banking networks.
Despite the US proposal, which remains in a 30-day public comment period, both the Central Bank of the UAE and the Central Bank of Egypt issued a joint statement on Sunday, August 30, confirming that
Banque Misr’s UAE branches are continuing business as usual. As of August 31, 2026,
no branch closures, account freezes, or service disruptions have been announced. The UAE regulator is conducting an in-depth forensic lookback of transactions associated with the entities cited by US authorities to ensure compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) protocols.
For customers, including the large expatriate population in the UAE, the current status means that
routine banking services remain operational. While the potential loss of US dollar-denominated correspondent banking access could necessitate future operational changes,
no immediate restrictions on customer funds or deposits exist. The UAE Central Bank is currently studying regulatory options should the US measure become final, but
it has not issued any directives for customers to close accounts or withdraw funds. Officials advise customers to
disregard rumors regarding bank shutdowns and to verify any transaction delays directly with their bank using reference numbers.
