3. Mitigating Risks
Effective from 31/10/2022The sections below discuss how insurance operators can apply preventive measures to identify, assess, manage, and mitigate the risks associated with the insurance sector for life insurance and other investment-related insurance products. This is not a comprehensive discussion of all AML/CFT requirements imposed on insurance sector participants; insurers, agents, and brokers should therefore consult the UAE legal and regulatory framework currently in force.
The controls discussed below should be integrated into each institution’s larger AML/CFT compliance program and supported by appropriate governance, training, and independent audit. As discussed in section 3.6 below, insurers are permitted to delegate the performance of specified controls to insurance agents, brokers, banks, or other intermediaries, using either a third-party reliance or an outsourcing model.
| • | Under a third-party reliance model, insurers may rely on any third-party LFI, such as a bank, insurance agent, or insurance broker, to perform the elements of general CDD described in sections 3.3.1.1 through 3.3.1.3, following the third party’s AML/CFT policies and procedures. In such circumstances, the third party will usually have an existing business relationship with the customer, which is independent of the relationship to be formed by the customer with the relying institution. The third-party reliance model is most commonly employed in the case of insurance brokers, who sell insurance products to consumers on behalf of multiple insurers and therefore typically maintain and apply their own AML/CFT policies and procedures. | |||
| • | Under an outsourcing model, by contrast, insurers may engage a third-party service provider, such as an insurance agent, broker, or other intermediaries, to apply some or all of the AML/CFT preventive measures described in this section on behalf of the delegating institution, following the insurer’s AML/CFT policies and procedures. In an outsourcing scenario, the third party is subject to the delegating insurer’s control regarding the effective implementation of those policies and procedures by the outsourcing entity. The outsourcing model is most commonly employed in the case of tied agents, who sell insurance products to consumers exclusively on behalf of a single insurer and therefore typically follow the insurer’s AML/CFT policies and procedures. | |||
Under either model, the insurer retains ultimate responsibility for the implementation of applicable AML/CFT preventive measures (including maintaining the availability of all relevant data and records), and the arrangement must satisfy the conditions set forth in section 3.6 below.