UAE and Egypt Central Banks Coordinate as Banque Misr UAE Branches Continue Normal Operations
The Central Bank of the UAE and the Central Bank of Egypt have issued a joint statement confirming continued coordination over Banque Misr’s branches in the UAE, following the U.S. Treasury’s proposed action targeting the bank’s UAE operations.
The two central banks said Banque Misr’s UAE branches are continuing to conduct their business as usual and will take all necessary actions and measures within the period specified for addressing the U.S. proposal.
The statement follows a new supervisory phase that began after the UAE regulator ordered a special and urgent examination of Banque Misr’s UAE branches, including a forensic and in-depth lookback covering the period identified by U.S. authorities and focusing on transactions involving companies referenced in the U.S. notice.
U.S. action remains a proposed measure
On 28 August 2026, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed designating Banque Misr UAE as a primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act. FinCEN said the bank’s UAE branches processed approximately US$1.8 billion in transactions for 103 companies that may have been connected to Iranian shadow-banking networks between January 2024 and June 2026.
The U.S. measure remains a proposed rule and has not yet taken effect as a final prohibition. It would target the UAE branches’ access to U.S. correspondent banking channels rather than Banque Misr’s operations in Egypt or other jurisdictions.
The latest joint statement is therefore a new regulatory response rather than a resolution of the underlying U.S. concerns. For compliance teams, the case highlights how cross-border AML concerns can rapidly trigger coordinated supervisory reviews across multiple jurisdictions while underlying legal measures remain at the proposal stage.
