In a statement on 26 February, Mashreq said the agreement made it the first bank in the UAE to offer instant and same day credit facility to so many places, including the UK, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Bangladesh and majority of European countries.

Customer payments will be sent instantly to Europe using SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, Singapore via FAST (Fast and Secure Transfer) and United Kingdom using the Faster Payment Services. This is in addition to India and Pakistan where customers have had instant transfers since 2017.

According to the UAE Central Bank’s latest figures, the outward remittance market in the UAE is seeing significant growth with a 3% year-on-year increase from AED164.4bn in 2017, to AED169.2bn in 2018. During the first half of 2019, outward remittances from the UAE stood at AED 80.96bn.

Rohit Garg, head of business banking, FX & remittances, Mashreq Bank, said: “With this partnership, Mashreq now offers the widest network of instant/same day account credits from the UAE.”

Prajit Nanu, co-founder and chief executive, NIUM, added: “Real-time payments are becoming a big draw for banks to expand their CASA reach and we are proud to partner with Mashreq Bank as they become the first bank in Middle East to offer RTP to their customers. Cross border payments to Europe and Asia will take minutes and not days as earlier.”

As a Representative Office, Enness DIFC is only permitted to carry out a narrow set of activities in the DIFC relating to the marketing of mortgage services offered by its head office based in the United Kingdom, the statement explained.

Bryan Stirewalt, chief executive of the DFSA, said: “This action demonstrates that the DFSA takes the failure by Representative Offices to act within the scope of their Licences seriously. We expect that all Representative Offices in the DIFC understand what they are authorised to do, and have controls in place that ensure they only engage in authorised activities.”

The DFSA’s investigation found that between November 2017 and January 2019, Enness DIFC arranged mortgages for its clients, and provided mortgage advice for its clients.

Enness DIFC was not authorised to engage in such activity, and in doing so acted outside the scope of its Representative Office Licence, in breach of the DFSA’s laws.

Enness DIFC fully cooperated with the investigation, the regulator said, and sought to obtain an appropriate DFSA Licence authorising it to carry on the wider Financial Service of Arranging Credit and Advising on Credit.

In addition, Enness DIFC also agreed to settle the DFSA’s action at an early stage of the investigation and, therefore, qualified for a discount under the DFSA’s policy for early settlement.

If the settlement discount had not been agreed, the DFSA said it would have imposed a fine of USD 150,000 (AED 551,000) on Enness DIFC.

“We are in close contact with the home regulator of the Pakistani bank, the State Bank of Pakistan, and will take appropriate regulatory action once we have verified the findings reported in the media to confirm if there was any violation to UAE’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combat of Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and procedures”, the UAE regulator said.

Earlier, State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank, had said in a finding that there were “significant irregularities” in Habib Bank Ltd’s (HBL) dealing with politically exposed clients and screening some transactions in the Middle East.

The inspection was carried out as part of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Crackdown on misuse of home loans

In a separate move, the UAE Central Bank also issued a notice to lenders “to stop certain unacceptable practices” involving mortgages, which enabled some borrowers to use home loans for purposes other than “constructing, purchasing or renovating a house for owner occupier or investment purposes.”

It said: “Any form of personal loans granted by banks or finance companies using property as collateral” shouldn’t be classified as mortgages, the regulator said in a statement. Lenders shouldn’t provide personal loans for longer than four years and lenders “must not take private houses as security” for this type of borrowing.”

Bajaj Allianz Life will make available a full spread of its retail products including term, savings, retirement and investment products across the bank’s 1,617 offices in India.

In a statement issued in Mumbai on 5 February, Tarun Chugh, managing director and chief executive of Bajaj Allianz Life, said: “I’m confident that our customised insurance solutions and customer-focused digital services will not only enhance the overall experience the customers will enjoy, but also help our partnership grow from strength to strength.”

Surinder Chawla, head of retail liabilities and wealth management at RBL Bank, said: “This partnership leverages our combined strength to provide a comprehensive suite of financial solutions to our customers. Bajaj Allianz Life’s innovative life insurance products will enable our customers to plan better towards a more financially secured future.”

Singh will also be part of Avendus’ executive committee, the group’s strategic think tank, it said in a statement. He was managing director and head of Standard Chartered’s wealth management business before joining Avendus.

He will be responsible for managing the team of private bankers, product specialists and portfolio managers who serve the clients across the country.

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, Singh had previously worked at HSBC Private Bank as the global head of fund strategy that was responsible of exchange-traded funds and long-only mutual fund offerings. He was also a member of HSBC’s Private Bank Global Investment Committee.