History is littered by the stories of enterprises that seemed invincible, only to crumble in an instant due to unforeseen circumstances. This is the harsh reality of business, particularly for companies without strong risk management, internal audit, and compliance functions.

What Is Risk Management?

Risk Management is about managing threats and opportunities. Effective risk management supports a company’s objectives, improves decision-making, and helps prioritize tasks through a comprehensive understanding of business activity, volatility, and project opportunities or threats.

At Al Ansari Exchange, we consider risk management fundamental to good management practice and a significant pillar to establishing corporate governance. We are committed to a formal risk management system integrated at all levels to achieve our strategic and operational goals.

We regularly review and monitor our risk management process, fostering a proactive risk management culture. Risk exceptions or risk acceptances, if any, are discussed with relevant stakeholders and appropriate action is defined.

Risk management is not a stand-alone activity that is separate from the organization’s main activities and processes. It is an integral part of the company’s decision-making and routine management, incorporated within the strategic and operational planning processes at all levels. It focuses on assessing significant risks and implementing suitable responses to maximize value, increase success probability, and reduce failure and the uncertainty associated with achieving organizational objectives. 

Our business model, strategies, structure, culture, and resources define our risk management framework. It involves consistent assessment, mitigation, monitoring, and communication aligned with our corporate objectives. This continuous, evolving process is embedded in our company culture. Al Ansari Exchange’s risk management process, tailored to our business, includes:

• Establishing the context
• Risk assessment (identification, analysis, and evaluation)
• Risk treatment (mitigation plan)
• Monitoring, review, and reporting
• Communication and consultation

At Al Ansari Exchange, we recognise the importance of risk management. We implement robust risk management strategies not only to mitigate our risks but also to protect our remittance, PayPlus payroll solutions, corporate cash collection, and foreign exchange clients.

To achieve this, we ensure compliance with international best practices and the regulations set forth by the Central Bank of the UAE, particularly in anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) measures.

Internal Compliance Strategies

Complying with local and international regulations can help business organizations minimize their risk. At Al Ansari Exchange, we enforce the following anti-money laundering compliance strategies:

• Internal anti-money laundering policies and controls
• Compliance officer presence
• Employee training
• Regular reviews

We operationalize the above strategies through the following specific measures:

1. Know Your Customer (KYC)

We have and strictly adhere to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Customer’s Customer (KYCC) policies in accordance with international and local AML and Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF) regulations. We perform KYC and KYCC regardless of the transaction amount.

2. Customer Due Diligence (CDD)

We have a customer due diligence (CDD) process to ensure that the transactions they perform are in line with their profile or business activities. This is to ensure the legitimacy of the purpose and funding source of any transaction.

3. Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD)

We go beyond customer due diligence, obtaining supporting documents as needed, to prevent fraud risk and ensure legitimacy on high-risk accounts.

4. Sanctions Screening

We have systems that automatically screen sender and receiver names against various sanctions lists, including but not limited to those issued by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), the UN Security Council and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. 

5. Transaction Monitoring

We keep an eye on ongoing transactions to detect unusual activities or irregular fund movement.

6. Reporting of Unusual or Suspicious Transactions

Our front-line agents and all our staff are trained to detect and escalate unusual transactions, and we have established escalation channels.

7. Staff Training

We conduct regular AML training to develop good AML/CTF governance at different levels within the organization.

8. Recordkeeping and Confidentiality

We retain all data pertaining to customers and transactions for a minimum of five years, per the CBUAE’s regulations, but ensure  they remain secure and confidential.

9. Independent Review of the Compliance and AML Department

We subject our compliance functions to regular internal and external reviews to ensure their continued validity and effectiveness.

Internal Audit for Compliance

We have internal auditors who conduct periodic reviews of our internal compliance policies, procedures, controls, and governance to ensure they provide adequate protection against risks. Internal audit is a vital component of risk management.

Rigorous internal and external audits ensure a company’s risk management plan is valid and effective. Through regular audits, a company can uncover control weaknesses, spot previously unidentified risks, and improve risk mitigation strategies, among other things.

At Al Ansari, our internal audit function helps ensure we remain AML and CTF compliant.

Al Ansari Exchange: Risk Management Through Internal Audit and Compliance

Risk management is a function vital to any business. For our protection and that of our clients, we take risk management and fraud control very seriously. Thus, we have robust audit and compliance procedures and controls.

Aside from risk management, internal audit is another necessary business function. It adds value to risk management by monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of risk management processes. While it does not manage risk, compliance audit provides information in the form of assurances and advice to the Board and Management of the organization. This information reduces the uncertainty faced by company leadership and contributes to the management of risk. 

Al Ansari Exchange is an exchange company in the UAE with an extensive network of branches nationwide. Download our digital remittance mobile app to send money locally and overseas, or talk to us about our corporate financial services.