Kuwait: Bank Statement Mandatory for Transfers Exceeding KWD 3,000

Kuwaiti exchange companies have begun implementing additional precautionary measures to strengthen their capabilities in monitoring suspicious financial transfers. These actions are part of a broader strategy led by the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) to enhance their methods for combating money laundering and terrorism financing, and to verify the legitimacy of their customers' fund sources. As part of enhanced due diligence to verify fund origins, exchange companies now require customers making financial transfers exceeding 3,000 Kuwaiti Dinars (KWD) to provide a bank statement. This statement must display their financial activity for at least the past two months. This is a significant change, as previously this requirement was limited to high-value transfers, typically starting from 10,000 KWD, or those significantly exceeding the financial limits recorded in 'Know Your Customer' data.

This new requirement aligns with Kuwait's commitment to strengthening its legislative framework for combating money laundering and terrorism financing. The measure aims to elevate the accuracy and reliability of financial transfer data to the highest possible degree, ensuring that transferred and withdrawn funds are consistent with the customer's actual income and are not sudden or without financial and legal justification. These new procedures adopted by exchange companies also enhance supervisory capacity by increasing the transparency of legal entities and ultimate beneficial owners. This is driven by the development of the beneficial ownership system, reinforced disclosure requirements, and improved effectiveness of the national system, all in line with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) requirements and related international standards. These standards necessitate that exchange companies and financial institutions verify the sources of their customers' funds, especially in key operations, even if derived from their bank accounts.

In response to strengthened regulatory procedures based on risk-based supervision methodologies and enhanced inspection plans, all exchange companies are adhering to a maximum cash limit of 1,000 KWD per customer for a single transfer operation per day. The CBK continues its field operations to strengthen its financial transfer monitoring program and address any deficiencies, however minor, in the financial transfer system. This involves continuously requesting additional data from exchange companies to demonstrate their efforts in verifying the integrity of customer fund sources. The CBK has intensified its field inspections of exchange companies' records to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering instructions, as mandated by Law (106) on combating money laundering and terrorism financing, related decisions, and relevant directives.

Kuwait has recently made progress in the technical assessment of 7 key FATF recommendations, with follow-up reports upgrading all of them to 'largely compliant' after addressing previously identified shortcomings. This reflects a series of legislative, regulatory, and supervisory reforms implemented by government entities. Improvements include targeted financial sanctions, combating terrorism financing, proliferation financing of weapons of mass destruction, oversight of non-profit organizations, corporate and beneficial ownership transparency, and oversight of financial and non-financial institutions, in addition to international legal cooperation. These efforts are naturally enhancing the country's compliance with international standards in combating money laundering, terrorism financing, proliferation financing, and the supervision of financial institutions, non-profit organizations, and beneficial owners. Kuwait upgraded its rating for Recommendation 6, pertaining to financial sanctions related to terrorism and terrorism financing, from 'non-compliant' to 'largely compliant,' following the development of its legal and executive framework for sanctions. The FATF noted in its report that Kuwait's issuance of Ministerial Resolution No. (8) of 2025, concerning the executive regulations for the committee tasked with implementing Security Council resolutions under Chapter VII, contributed to strengthening mechanisms for listing, freezing funds and assets, and executing international resolutions within specified timeframes.