Anti-money
Laundering

Esterad Bank is committed to complying fully with the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules and regulations of the Central Bank of Bahrain, and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Bank continuously strives to improve the level of compliance in conducting its business by actively educating staff to increase awareness of AML issues and principles.

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING PILLARS

  1. The Ethical pillar, by actively taking part in the fight against financial crime.
  2. The Professional pillar, by preventing the Bank and its products being used as a channel for money laundering and terrorist financing by recycling the proceeds of crime.
  3. The Legal pillar, by complying with the Kingdom of Bahrain’s legislation and regulations on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING MANUAL

The Bank’s AML Manual has been developed in line with the following:

  • Central Bank of Bahrain guidance
  • Financial Crime Module of the CBB Rulebook Volume 2 - Islamic Banks
  • International best practices promoted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
  • Basel Committee guidance on Customer Due Diligence. 

The AML Manual provides a comprehensive set of AML policies and procedures that set out detailed requirements relating to customer identification, customer due diligence, ongoing due diligence and monitoring, reporting suspicious activities, combating the financing of terrorism, recordkeeping, and staff education and training.  

The Bank’s compliance with Anti-Money Laundering regulations is monitored by its Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) and Deputy MLRO; and independently assessed, both internally and externally, by Internal Audit and the Bank’s external auditors on an annual basis.