The account closures were one of the measures outlined in the announcement of a $300m fine imposed on Standard Chartered for its continuing failure to comply with anti-money laundering measures.
In a response from the UAE central bank, it stated that between 1,400 and 8,000 Standard Chartered accounts would be affected and that it had formed a team “to review the records of accounts of these companies and their owners, to identify the violation” as recorded in New York “on every one of them”.
According to various media reports the central bank also said Standard Chartered will be liable to legal action by the account owners "because of the material and moral damage which is falling on them" and that the UAE’s Consumer Protection Unit was willing to consider complaints from affected account holders.
The central bank further said that although Standard Chartered had not met US regulatory rules, its UAE branches had committed "no significant violations" of international money laundering rules, such as the standards of the Financial Action Task Force.
