Press Releases

In a press release to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) the Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK), H.E. Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah, stated that the National Assembly's approval of the anti-money laundering bill stems from the keenness of both the legislative and executive branches of the government of the State of Kuwait to achieve the needed legislative structure for combating suspect operations. H.E. also pointed out that the approval of this bill coincided with the monitoring by the International Anti-Money Laundering Committee (FATF) of the issuing of the Anti-Money Laundering law in Kuwait, with a view to preventing the State's listing as non-cooperating in this regard. Furthermore, this approval was in tune with the assertion by the Kuwaiti delegation at FATF's last meeting in Hong Kong that the Anti-Money Laundering law will be issued in the State of Kuwait sometime during February this year. Also, the endorsement of this proposed law represents one further important step towards strengthening Kuwait's position among those countries striving to confront money-laundering operations.

H.E. added that the CBK took the initiative of confronting money-laundering operations as early as 1993, by instructing all units subject to its supervision to combat these operations in the banking and financial system. H.E. noted that these instructions, later updated in 1997 and 1998, were in line with the FATF 40 recommendations for combating money-laundering operations, and that the nature of these operations and the constant development in the means of their perpetration necessitates the unification of efforts by all concerned parties at the local, regional and international levels, and calls for the continuous review of legislation and regulatory instructions in keeping with the accelerating changes in this area, so as to ensure an efficient tackling of the money-laundering phenomenon.